Saturday I had a first. I’ve supported people new to hiking, bicycling, and weight loss before, but never a fellow recipient of a bilateral knee replacement. Now I have.
Jeff is, like myself, a poster to the joint replacement support group BoneSmart. He had both knees replaced in April of this year. On learning he was only an hour’s drive from me we arranged to meet on a local rail trail for a walk. I confess one reason I set up the meeting was so I could offer advice based on my experience having both knees replaced in 2012, but Jeff’s recovery is so far along that anything I could have said would have been superfluous. He’s not only walking regularly on local rail trails, but kayaking and golfing. And all without pain.
Fatigue is still an issue, however, and Jeff still became tired at the end of the five mile walk. He also tripped and took a fall, but he rolled and limited the damage to pride. Jeff’s wife was with us, and having natural knees she had no trouble with fatigue or tripping.
As for the scene of our walk, the Saucon Rail Trail is about six miles long, packed pea gravel surfaced, and passes through Lower Saucon Township and the Borough of Hellertown. The stretch we walked is wooded in parts, but also passes through developed areas and next to a golf course. By starting early we avoided the worst of the heat, and enjoyed this little trail.
