Inactivity should not prevail

A recent email and a news release on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (cdc.gov), reminded me that yep, Arkansas still ranks up there among U.S. states when it comes to physical inactivity.

The website information was dated January 2022, but I get the feeling things haven’t changed much.

According to a website page that displays multiple inactivity maps according to race, ethnicity and location, adult U.S. residents were presented this question by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: “During the past month, other than your regular job, did you participate in any physical activities or exercises such as running, calisthenics, golf, gardening, or walking for exercise?” The BRFSS is described as a state-based, telephone interview survey conducted by CDC and state health departments.

(Allow me to pause to say here that I’m impressed that the BRFSS got that many people to even answer their telephones, let alone participate in a telephone survey in this day and time.)

More from the CDC’s no-surprise department when it comes to physical inactivity: “Regionally, states in the South (27.5%) had the highest prevalence of physical inactivity, followed by the Midwest (25.2%), Northeast (24.7%), and West (21.0%) … seven states (West Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi) and Puerto Rico had a physical inactivity prevalence of 30% or more.”

The CDC goes on to stress that “reducing physical inactivity requires a comprehensive effort from many groups … to make it easier for everyone to move more.”

Agreed. But I wonder how many cases there are in which inactivity has occurred as a result of protests coming from an aging body that insists on behaving like the jacked-up title robot character in the movie “Wall-E” (Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth Class) while the body’s owner is trying to get it to look and function like Wall-E’s fancy new friend, Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator (EVE). Or a body whose owner wants it to look and function like those new (albeit turned bad guys) NS-5 androids in the movie “I, Robot” but which behaves like the poor outdated androids whose tails were being kicked by the NS5s. Or a body whose owner wants it to look and function like the iPhone 14 but which acts like it’s an iPhone 3 … you get the picture.

I write this after an early-morning visit to my primary care physician last Monday. This visit came after about two weeks hobbling around with medial, or inner, leftknee pain. (Yes, I know the word “medial” only because I consulted Dr. Google first … and am trying not to think about the fact that “medial”

sounds like the description of a tire.)

This latest ache decided to overshadow the come-andgo left-leg ache — suspected sciatica — I’d been dealing with since 2016. At that time I sought help from a downtown-clinic doc, who sent me to an imaging clinic, where I found I at least didn’t have a fracture or blood clots. That was that. I hopped along like Cassidy, descending stairs gingerly and sideways and hoping I didn’t look too much like a senescent crab.

The new pain, however, had me bargaining with my leg and knee at night: “Hey, if I position you like this, do you promise not to hurt so I can at least get back up to my previous bad sleeping level?” I found myself struggling to walk the first few minutes after getting out of bed or up from a chair after sitting for a while.

I began to wonder about the future of an average of nine hours a week’s worth of workouts, during which I’ve been attempting to keep up with younger folk during my gym’s Zoom classes by doing activities that might make healthy knees whimper; and attempting to peddle my Peloton like I’m trying out for an “American Flyers” movie remake.

After hobbling to the doc, who said right off that he’d be the last to try to dissuade me from exercising, I came away with two diagnoses: left-sided sciatica for the old problem (bingo) and for the new, a semi-unpronounceable new term: arthralgia of the left knee/patella/tibia/fibula. I also came away with a prescription for what’s supposed to be some kick-rear topical gel, rather than the oral medication that might make my leg feel better but eventually make the ol’ kidneys cry.

As this column went to press, I still wondered with some apprehension whether my leg/knee issues would push past my determination to keep my workout mojo. The weigh-in at the doc’s office provided its own share of discouragement. Darn that birthday-month eating!

But I can ill afford to be a contributor to Arkansas’ lack-of-activity distinction. I may have to scale back on the high-impact stuff, but I’ve got to keep doing my best to dodge the worst of the family diseases/disorders. Gotta try to inspire fellow Arkies to drop and give somebody 10/20/30. Gotta see if it’s possible, maybe one day, to fall in love with a burpee.

I can hear my current and past fitness trainers — Kameelah and Phyllis, respectively — telling me to push! And, even though I suspect it’ll be easier to buy an iPhone 14 than to look and function like the human equivalent of one … I’ll push.

I challenge all “job-only”exercisers to do the same.