“I felt personally attacked by your last column!”
“Have you been spying on me?”
“Thanks for writing about me!”

Many joking accusations have been thrown my way (with a cheeky smile) since the “Pain and Weight Gain Trap” column in August.
I loved the banter.
I loved it because there are so many people that could relate and now know what to do.
Perhaps you too can relate all too painfully when I detailed the pain and weight gain trap. 
Here it is to recap:
- You get pain.
- Resting doesn’t help.
When you start trying to do what you love, you discover that not only did resting not help, but you have lost some fitness and gained weight.
The extra weight puts added strain on that painful joint.
- You do less because of the pain.
- You lose more fitness. 
- You gain more weight.
- The pain gets worse.
The cycle continues until either an operation for a joint replacement, or you come to see us at Physique Physiotherapy!
A friend who has early-onset knee osteoarthritis came into the clinic two years ago. He was very much trapped in the pain and weight gain trap.
At the time, his knee osteoarthritis looked moderate on scans.
Two years on, it has gotten noticeably worse on scans.
But he is more active and has less pain now than when he first came in two years ago.
In two years he has gained so much more muscle on his legs and enjoys an increase in movement in his “moderate-severely arthritic knee”.
Now he can play with the grandkids again, go for long walks around Harbourtown, and doesn’t need to feel like a burden to anyone. 
 This is despite the fact that he could have easily gotten an operation two years ago.
The benefit of conservative management before an operation? Well, he may not need to get a knee replacement for another 5-10 years still, despite having knee arthritis. 
Also, given his age, the knee replacement is not likely to last the rest of his life due to wear and tear... so he would need to get a serious operation done in the last decade of his life which is certainly not something any 80-90-year-old wants to go through.
Conservative management is so much cheaper than operating and the costs that come with that (anaesthetics, pain management, medications, pre/post-operative rehabilitation, etc.). But what is even better is prevention.
If only my friend had known what to do to avoid getting to this stage. He is very charitable and would take ownership of his choice to let his health get to this stage in a heartbeat. 
But I’d like to encourage you to take action now for your health. The investment that you make in your health now is minuscule in comparison to the rewards that you will reap in the years to come.
And any health concern that you have now, is much easier to deal with today than what it will be in the years to come.