Pains in the . . .

 

 

I have reached the age where I can still do things, but parts of my body don't cooperate the way I think they should.

I am not claiming that I'm a senior citizen by any means, although my husband, Dan, and I receive fliers from AARP and hearing institutes way too often.

I'm just saying I notice a difference these days. 

For example, I was leading my choir in our morning "aerobics" (an energizing movement activity prior to vocal warmups), and I pulled a muscle in my shoulder just by lifting my arms. I have been doing the same choir aerobics for over twenty years, and suddenly, at age forty-four, I pulled a muscle.

On a side note, we do our choir aerobics to Weezer. It makes my GenX heart happy to hear the kids sing along with Buddy Holly.

 

A few days later, I pulled a muscle in my neck while teaching the second graders a song called, "Hip Hop Bunny." I may or may not have been bobbing my head in the style of A Tribe Called Quest.

As I struggle to jump up off the floor like I did in my early days of teaching, sixth graders whine constantly about their feet falling asleep and feeling "creaky." 

 

You're eleven. Wait about thirty years.

 

 

I notice foot and toe pain when I run. I used to run six to eight miles in the summer without any foot problems. Now, I wear insoles under the ball of my foot.

 

I have tennis elbow, which my doctor says is very common with musicians. In fact, sometimes it's called "musician's elbow."

 

I have a stiff left hip and random aches and pains in my shoulder, and I have no idea where they came from or when they started.

 

 

Dan injured himself snowboarding the other weekend. Basically, he fell on his butt.

"Google says your bone could die if it's bruised," he said.

He was still getting around fine. He was able to walk and even jog, but every time he sneezed or bent forward, and his lower back twinged, it worried him because neither one of us is used to these weird, middle-aged aches and pains.

 

I was finally able to convince him to go to the doctor just so he would quit talking about dying bones. I was 99.99999% sure his bones weren't dying.

 

"If anything was fractured or cracked, you wouldn't be able to walk or jog in a normal way," the doctor told him. "It will take about four to six weeks to heal."

 

 

Last summer, I pulled a muscle in my calf after a really great trail run, again, something I had been doing for years. It happened right before we went on a fun, outdoorsy vacation with lots of hiking and mountain biking. That was awesome.

 

 

So, yes, my twenty and thirty-something friends, this is what you have to look forward to. I am just as physically active and in shape as I was back in my twenties and thirties (I may be in better shape now), but things don’t work quite the same. 

 

It's fine though. There are still ways to enjoy an active lifestyle (see picture below).

 

 

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.