Am I old? – staying still for too long

There used to be a time when I could sit however I wanted. I could do an activity without a care for how long it took, and not suffer any dramas from it. Those days are gone.

This issue came to light when I needed to cut my toenails. The way it has always worked is that I sit on a chair or at the end of a bed, lift up a food to rest on the opposite knee, then go to work with clippers. Ingrown nails means this process takes a little longer than simple nail cutting. The problem surfaced during one such event when I tried to move my foot after I had finished with it. Normally, I’d just slide my foot off my knee and move to the second foot. On this occasion, my foot didn’t want to respond. I had to pick it up and move it away before I had control of it again. The same problem occurred with the second foot, and has happened every time since.

It appears that my body, if set in a slightly abnormal position for any length of time, wants to seize up. If I’m within the common range of motion, not putting any pressure on any part of me, then I’m all good. However, if I go even slightly out of this range of motion, and hold the position for too long, my body doesn’t want to get out of it, and actually provides discomfort if I try to move it back to normal.

So here I am, not even 40 years old, and feeling like the Tin Man from Wizard Of Oz. The other sign of getting old is the comparative reference I just used there.

Lesson – staying still for too long hurts.

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