A while back I noticed that I had constant knee pain. Through running I’ve learned that you don’t have a left and right knee, but you have a good knee and a bad knee. My bad knee is connected to the foot that supinates (turns out when I walk/run normally). This movement causes a bit of extra pressure to the outside of my knee which can lead to pain and discomfort if other factors are introduced.
My historical “other” factors include:
- Degrading shoes
- New injury
- Road/trail conditions
- Lazy running form
- The chair I sit in for work
- How my legs naturally relax while I’m working
Today I wish to add one more line to that list, wearing a diaper. The additional padding that cause an ABDL to “waddle” had introduced another pressure to the outside of my knee as I walked differently while wearing. I feel that I was also sitting differently that caused slight pressure to constantly be on the outside of that knee. Those small additions to pressure to a hinge in my body took its toll. Enough of a toll that I as worried about long-term ramifications of mobility on my knee.
I decided to make a few changes and try to reduce the pain I was experiencing. It had begun impacting my sleeping because it was a constant, dull pain that would appear while resting my knee in certain positions. Short-term accommodations included switching out my work chair, focusing on the posture and position of my legs when I am sitting at my desk, and removing diaper wearing for a little while to see if I felt an improvement. Long-term accommodations include getting my diet and running schedule back on track. COVID-19, the pandemic, and work from home changes have made a slow but destructive impact on my life.
My workplace was continually taking the approach that this was a short-term issue and was putting small dates out in front of us before things would “return to normal.” This kept me from making longer-term changes in how I work to better set myself up for success while working from my home office. I was slowly gaining weight, and being more stationary throughout the day. My commute now consisted of about 30-50 steps, and pants were now optional! I allowed my environment and situation to slowly take away years of hard work.
My clothes don’t fit like they did, and sweats are a lot more comfortable to me now. Presently, at the writing of this post, I’m three weeks into dietary and cardiovascular change where I’m slowly bringing things back into focus. These changes will not yield immediate results, but I have to keep in mind how I felt what everything was “dialed in.”
My short-term changes have yielded fruits that will help springboard other wins. My knee pain has slowly improved each day and I have leveraged other activities/objects in my life for stress reduction. I didn’t plan for this vacation from diapers, but have appreciated it. I had a few moments that I wanted to pad back up, but am glad that I didn’t. I have since reintroduced wearing when I’ve needed it, and I can say that the short respite from waddling around made the next time I wore that much more meaningful to me. Perhaps I was experiencing “too much of a good thing” again in my diaper wearing.
What small grain of sand, or irritant, do we allow to fester in our lives by allowing other small, and sometimes seemingly inconsequential, factors to introduce additional pressure on our lives?
My hope is that I’m getting back on track, and through external motivations from my wife and family, that I will choose to help keep these irritants from my life. I will have diapers and a number of other things ready to help me weather the storms that come.
My knee pain has helped me grow, and remember other tools I have in my toolbelt to combat stress and life’s craziness. I have seen both physiological and psychological benefits, and when the next trial comes I hope that I can see past the immediate pain and look to the long-term growth that can occur. I must keep balance in perspective when I choose to tape up and crinkle around.
Better balance make a better Adult Baby
Photo by Daniel Reche from Pexels
Aberrantly Me 