Dealing with arthritic knee pain

Today for the first time in a long time I woke up with no pain in my left knee.

Now, I am not foolish enough to think my knee is miraculously healed. I am, however, encouraged. After all, waking up with arthritis pain in my left knee is just a way of life for me.

Supposedly exercise helps with arthritis. Here's an article about it from The Arthritis Foundation. I have found this to be true. After a workout, especially a yoga session, my knee always feels much better. The pain returns after a while, but getting the blood and joints moving does seem to help.

From that fact, you may assume that the stillness of sleeping would cause the knee to tighten up, and I have definitely found that my knee hurts worst right when I wake up and start moving around. So, then, what have I been doing differently that may have led to today's pain-free knee?

A few weeks ago, after a recovery week, I noticed that my knee felt pretty good. Not great, but better than it had been. I thought about the exercises I do that may injure the knee, and Plyo came to mind. And parts of Kenpo. Jumping around may not be the best idea, if you are trying to protect your knees.

I decided to stop those activities.

My knee has been feeling much better and today, two and a half weeks later, I woke up with no pain in my left knee.

I fully expect to wake up with a painful knee tomorrow, but this is encouraging.

I am, btw, continuing with all other aspects of my training. I even added an extra legs day to make up for the lack of Plyo training.

We'll see how it goes.