![]() On the advice of a co-worker, Dehne joined a six-week program through which she learned how to safely walk to ease her pain. I can do that - I can walk to the third floor of my building.' " "I look up at them and say, 'Oh yeah, that's OK. "They don't hurt me anymore." And stairs? No problem. "My knees feel like they did when I was young," Dehne says. She feels great being out in nature, breathing fresh air, taking in the scenery and talking to neighbors. She started out with 15- to 20-minute walks today, Dehne walks about 40 minutes five times a week. "I wasn't as out of breath, and my mood started to improve." "I mean literally, after a few days, I started to feel looser in my joints," she says. In the beginning she felt stiff, tired and out of breath. The woman working in the cubicle next to hers ran a program that encouraged people with osteoarthritis to start walking to help reduce their pain.ĭehne was skeptical but felt she was just too young to be burdened by this disease she agreed to give brisk walks a try. Luckily for her, she says, she worked at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina. Shots - Health News Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers, Or You May Not Be Able To Laterĭehne was diagnosed around age 40 with osteoarthritis in both knees, a painful swelling and deterioration of the cushioning cartilage in those joints that reduces their range of motion. Just climbing stairs was painful - "sometimes to the point where I would have to hold on to the banister to help myself up," she says, "and I couldn't even extend my leg." At times, it felt as though the ligaments in her knees "were tearing." Just a year and a half ago, Dehne pretty much avoided any physical movement she didn't have to make. ![]() She says her commitment to exercise is relatively recent. Dehne is 44, lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and works as a business officer in the office of the executive vice chancellor at the University of North Carolina. But in fact, researchers find the opposite is true: The right kind of exercise can help reduce pain. Some fear that physical activity will make their pain worse. Back then, just climbing stairs was very painful, she says, and exercising seemed out of the question.įor people who live with chronic pain, getting up, out and moving can seem daunting. Emma Dehne, who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., had debilitating pain in her knees, starting around age 40, and was ultimately diagnosed with osteoarthritis.
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