Don't Knock the Knees

When we were kids and were running, jumping, and climbing as children are apt to do, we didn’t realize just how important our knees were. They never really gave us much trouble unless they were scraped or scrunched in our play. As long as they worked, we played.

Three years ago, while climbing Solomon’s Pillars in southern Israel, my knees began to ache. I was never a super athlete, but I considered myself decently fit and able to do a variety of athletic skills. It came as quite a surprise when twinges of pain occurred as I ascended the sandstone steps. Days later, as we climbed the steeps stairs to the tel at Beit Shean, the pain was back. I got to the top, but was a little winded from the effort.

Since then the pain has come and gone. There are weeks when my knees don’t bother at all, but other times when lifting up my leg to climb a small step makes me wince. I had never mentioned it to my doctor until recently. It turns out that my knee caps are slightly out of position. This causes the normal smooth movement of the knee to scrape the joint, causing the cartilage to wear down.

Years ago surgery was an option, but never a permanent and effective solution. Today, exercise and supplements are the prescribed treatments. I will never have those great knees that took me up into the heights of trees or down the ski slopes of my youth, but I have to be thankful that there are helps to reduce the problem.

As we get older and the body starts wearing down, be thankful for what God has allowed you to accomplish. Even the simple things, like getting up in the morning, with or without the creaks and crackles, are a blessing. Good thing I write. Typing doesn’t hurt my knees!