Imminent middle age

...when all you can do is moan about your ailments. 

Going to a sporting goods store recently for new running kit, I also was in search of elastic joint supports. And I realised that they were all for my right side - right foot, right knee (well, shinsplints immediately below the knee actually) and right elbow.

This is a bit odd, since I'm left-handed and somewhat left-sided - not to exclusion of my right side, but decidedly. 

The elbow is worrying me a bit. The main right-side activity is, of course, using the mouse at work - I learned right-handed, and just never changed. But I really noticed it at Raglan, when I didn't want to hold the buckler for any length of time in my right hand, and had to pack it in early at the last fencing practice. (The support is for the next fencing practice.)

There's tendonitis, plus some muscle tension in my upper arm and shoulder that surprised even my osteopath. He was happy to treat it, but pointed out that I had to figure out the cause to really fix it.

Since then I've had my desk seating assessed (changed seat height), changed my mouse, and installed more nagware on the PC, to keep me from sitting near-motionless for long stretches. I've also tried to avoid repetitive hobbies in the evenings (knitting and hand sewing) which seemed to aggravate the elbow, though I don't want to give them up forever.

Right foot is a mystery: I wake up in the morning, and can't put my R foot flat on the floor w/out pain, in the mid-foot, what I'd call the instep. After 5 mins of bearing weight, though, it's fine, and seems happy. But some times this pain is more serious than others, sometimes quite sharp, and I wondered if an elastic support would change it.

I've noticed though that my left and right feet no longer match. There's a bump in the space above the arch of my right, and it's a bit wider than my left. On a particularly sore-foot day, it was swollen. I'm wondering if it's something to try to remedy now, or if I can ignore it, as I've been doing for months (can't remember when it started, but probably in the past two years).

I've looked up running injuries, but I don't think this is plantar fascitis, and I already know what shinsplints are.

Right knee - I've had shinsplints on and off for years in both legs, this is the first time it's flared up in earnest, so I'm limiting myself to 3 runs a week at my usual leisurely pace, with occasional long weekend runs, and bought squidgier shoes. 

I'm not convinced they're any improvement though - when you have softer shoes you're just freer to pound the pavement harder, whereas if you have less cushioning, you moderate your stride - at least, you do after the first day of serious swelling and soreness. I've rarely had sore feet from my unpadded, unshaped medieval shoes, usually because I'm on grass or non-pavement at a site.

I'm also trying to stretch more, with mixed results; I don't often feel much different from stretching, though I enjoy it.

Sometimes I watch seniors on the streets, walking so hunched, or hobbling, or limping heavily, and I wonder how they got to that stage of physical impairment. Did they neglect a small ailment, or are they work related? Would osteo treatment, or better shoes have helped earlier on? (My pronation was corrected when I was a teenager.) Part of my mum's back problems are from having one hip higher than the other, from carrying a heavy nursing bag for years.

There's not much help for chronic arthritis, obviously; but I want a body that works reasonably well into my old age.