I’ve been exercising more or less every single day since before the COVID-19 pandemic.  My exercise regime involves bouncing vigorously sitting on a gym ball whilst swinging my arms for about an hour and a half.  This is great for increasing my heart rate as well as keeping me moving, flexible and pain-free.

However, whilst on holiday in January, I began to experience an excruciating shooting / burning pain in my right knee.  Anytime I needed to move from being seated to standing, I had to brace myself for the pain that this would cause.  I’d spent a lot of time on that holiday sat in my wheelchair and I believed this to be the cause.  Once I’d managed to get from having my knee bent to straight, the pain would subside.  But it didn’t really vanish.  At night time it was quite unbearable and would often wake me at night.  I’d then find it really difficult to get back to sleep.  By the start of May I was relying on Paracetamol to get me through the night.

My daily exercise regime had to stop.  It was just too painful.  I was really missing my exercise – not just the physical side of it, but the emotional escape too – time for myself. As there was no other non-weight-bearing exercise that I could do, I was planning to go back to swimming and see whether that would be a suitable alternative way to keep myself moving.  The difficulty with swimming is that I need support from another person to go swimming, in terms of getting myself changed and dried.  Plus it wouldn’t be something that I could do daily.

The thing I most love about my bouncing is that it is something that I can do alone, in the comfort of my home, and it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing.  I don’t have to worry about travelling to a venue and parking or getting my wheelchair in and out of the car.  Once the exercise is finished, I can just continue with my day.

X-rays arranged by my GP revealed “advanced osteoarthritis” – much to my surprise.  I’d not had any sort of pain in this knee before.  I was referred to a consultant specialising in knees.  I was reassured by the fact that he had seen and treated other Thalidomiders.

So on Tuesday 4th June, I travelled to the Spire Bushey Hospital, just over an hour’s drive from where I live.  The consultant showed me the x-ray and said that although a knee replacement would be needed at some point, this wasn’t something he’d want to do immediately.  I must admit I was pleased to hear that, as the thought of being immobile following the surgery isn’t something I’d relish – plus, of course, there is always the risk that the surgery isn’t a success.

One of his suggestions was an ultrasound-guided steroid injection (Hydrocortisone) into the joint.  I’ve had steroid injections before into my hip for bursitis.  The first was very successful, and I was pain-free for about six months.  But the following two didn’t seem to make any difference.

I was told that if I chose to go down this path, I could have the injection that day.  I quickly made up my mind to take this option.  The pain was increasing and starting to interfere with other aspects of my life and emotional well-being.

A lovely member of staff gave me the injection, and the pain was reduced almost immediately.  Mind you, I’d had local anaesthetic injected into the site at the same time.

Three days later, the pain was noticeably reduced.  In fact, I could feel pain in my other knee – which I’d never noticed before.

Five days later, I felt confident to try to get back to my exercise.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve been able to resume my exercise – I’m back to my daily 1.5 hours of bouncing!

Let’s hope that the steroid continues to do its job.  I am limited on how frequently these injections can be administered, and, from previous experience, follow-up injections may not be as effective.

But in the meantime, I’ll just enjoy my bouncing.

And getting a good night’s sleep….