Age and Pain - What keeps you going?

[BlackIce 1]

Well, I am trying to play 2 times a week in the summer and 3 during the winter months. I've just turned 41 and must say that after I play my right knee just aches. I've gone to the doctor and he said that it's just because of aging. My question for the middle age guys who play. What keeps you going despite the nagging pains? For me it's just keeping the gut down, the exercise and the love of the game.

[hockeyaussie 1]

Well, I am trying to play 2 times a week in the summer and 3 during the winter months. I've just turned 41 and must say that after I play my right knee just aches. I've gone to the doctor and he said that it's just because of aging. My question for the middle age guys who play. What keeps you going despite the nagging pains? For me it's just keeping the gut down, the exercise and the love of the game.

Sounds like your playing a lot! So do you train as well?

I've heard that fish is a good source of some kind of nutrient or protein that's good for your joints. There may be better sources or supplements that are good for joints and sports?

41 is still young in my book, there is a guy in my social league who is 60!

[SouthpawTRK 1]

definitely the love of the game keeps me coming back, even when the pain is a bit much. a combination of icing, heat and aleve usually do the trick, but then again, I'm only playing once a week (this is my first season of playing hockey).

[sickwilly 37]

definitely the love of the game keeps me coming back, even when the pain is a bit much. a combination of icing, heat and aleve usually do the trick, but then again, I'm only playing once a week (this is my first season of playing hockey).

I'm 38, and my body has suffered a lot of hockey-related abuse through the years. (Stopped playing full-contact Senior league at 34). My biggest issues are lower back pain and my IT - commuting/having a desk job. I see an D.O. or Chiropractor as often as I can. I bought a few cheap yoga DVDs, and they have been immensely helpful. I just ordered a cheap inversion table online, too (never tried one, but seemed worth a shot at $89 shipped). I drink a lot of water, eat bananas and take glucosamine/MSM supplements. It helps a bit with my joint pain. I also put on Icy Hot before playing and take Epsom Salt baths for muscle spasms. They all help a bit. Of all of those things my D.O./Chiro appts and the yoga DVDs have been the most helpful to me.

[Law Goalie 147]

There's been some really interesting work done with aging athletes, and the one universal constant is that if they continue to play their sport the way they did when they were young, they're unsuccessful, miserable, and often injured; if they adapt to age, they can continue to play happily and comfortably. Carrying weight is, obviously not good, but it's not a disaster either (he said, justifying his gut as a physical remembrance of good meals past). The main thing is adjusting the sport to fit your life.

Warm-up religiously, but simply. All you need to do is move roughly the way you're going to move on the ice: at first without equipment, then with equipment. It's all about blood-flow, respiration, and body temperature: if you feel warm, and your breathing's up, you're all set. Above all, absolutely never, ever do static stretching before a skate - only after. I know most people know this by now, but I still catch myself doing the odd stretch in a warmup just because I always used to, and sure enough, that has a direct correlation with minor and not so minor injuries.

Stretch afterwards, again, like it's a rite. Flexibility is trainable at any age, but decreases with age. The rough guideline is to imagine a maximum stretch of that particular muscle, call it 10 out of 10, then hold the stretch at 4/10 for about a minute. All of this will add a significant amount of time to your skates, before and after, but it'll save you piles of time limping around the house and getting treatment: an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure, etc.

The vast majority of 'injuries' can usually be treated with a combination of rest, ice, compression, elevation, and massage. RICE you can do easily yourself; ditto massage, in fact. I would highly suggest going out and buying a self-applied massage book. There are tons of good ones, all of which help you to identify muscle groups, what they do, and how to massage them effectively. The only other equipment you might need is a rubber ball, and maybe a foam roll. By all means, if you've got the cash/insurance and time, go see an RMT at a sports medicine clinic to start. There are a small number of cases in which an underlying muscular weakness (requiring physiotherapy) or, more, a skeletal issue that produce mechanical problems, but in the vast majority, they'll simply advice better sports hygiene, and give you a few specific things to work on. Good sports medicine people have, in my experience, the best combination of diagnostic ability and therapeutic remedy you can find with respect to human movement.

The combination of warm-up, stretching, and well-studied self-applied massage will take care of damn near any problem you may have. If they don't, you'll have figured out that there probably is an underlying problem, and you can go back to get some help from a doctor.

[jds 20]

I'll give another thumbs up for post-event stretching. I'm pushing 46 and my flexibility is a disaster but when I stretch, foam roll etc after hockey or the gym I always feel totally different. I've come to accept that a little stiffness comes with aging but it can be managed. And I always stretch my shoulder after waving my fist at those pesky kids so they'll get off my lawn. No respect for their elders.:)

[Netminder32 32]

Well, I am trying to play 2 times a week in the summer and 3 during the winter months. I've just turned 41 and must say that after I play my right knee just aches. I've gone to the doctor and he said that it's just because of aging. My question for the middle age guys who play. What keeps you going despite the nagging pains? For me it's just keeping the gut down, the exercise and the love of the game.

Boy do I feel your pain...literally. :)

I'm 45 and I also play 2 times a week during the summer and 3 nights a week in the winter and for the exact same reason. Just trying to stay in some sort of shape. (yes I've heard the round is a shape jokes...) I have also been suffering from major joint pain in my right knee since roughly Jan/Feb of this year and lower back pain thats been getting progressively worse for a few years now. Lately I've really started to wonder just how many games I have left...and that's what keeps me going. It hurts a lot sometimes and I've been trying a few style modifications to adjust. I figure I'll quit when I simply can't play any longer. In the meantime. Just play and enjoy every game like it's your last... makes the pain somehow more tolerable and well worth every minute of it.

BTW. Thanks for sharing your story! It's somehow comforting just knowing there are others out there in the same situation.

[Brian Harte 1]

You guys will be fine.

We have a guy on the team who is into his 70s. No joke.

He's not quite at the same level as us youngins, but the simple fact that he is out there is amazing.

I think we'll all enjoy the sport for decades to come.

[chippa13 1844]

Age catches up with everyone sooner or later but there are things you can do to mitigate the effects. First, drop a few pounds. Most of us carry a few more than we should and dropping even 5-10 pounds can help to take some of the stress off of joints and your back. Second, do some exercise other than hockey a few days a week. This will keep your body ready for the action. Most of the guys who get hurt are the ones who only skate. Third, as said before, flexibility/stretching. Tight and stiff bodies are much more likely to succumb to injury than loose and flexible ones. And finally, keep those edges fresh. Dull edges are a fast ticket to muscle pulls.

[Justin Liedloff 13]

I'm at the ripe old age of 30, going on 31, but had undiagnosed hip dysplasia as a child. The wonky hip joints combined with years of abusing my body by playing goalie multiple times daily have provided me with arthritic hips, which in turn have given me tendinitis in both knees.

I don't play goalie anymore, but continue to play as a skater. The one thing that keeps me showing up every game? Playing with family / friends and the locker room bond. Feeling part of a team, especially a team of people who all get along, whether winning or losing, is a big draw for me. It's nice to get out on the ice and escape the daily grind for a couple hours.

As for what physically keeps me going, Joint Juice daily, and chiropractor visits every two weeks. As Law pointed out, warming as you get older is key, but is not just key for people getting older (did that even make sense?).

People who have a history of injury, or those looking to prevent major injuries in the future, should all warm up properly before they play. Stretching is a big deal as well, but never ever ever stretch cold muscles, it's the best way to get an injury. Warm up and stretch (in that order) prior to playing, and stretch and cool down (ice those joints if they are bad enough) after you play, and it will definitely limit the aches and pains between ice times.

Above all, the best lesson I can give, and one that I have learned the hard way, is never play injured, no matter how minor the injury is.

[ktang 34]

Adapting to playing around injuries, soreness, reduced speed, etc. is part of the challenge.

[Grinder 2]

The supplement you're referring to is Glucosamine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosamine

Never tried it myself, but I've known others with joint pain who swear by it.

At 42, I am the oldest in my inline league by 5 or 6 years, and we play once a week. It's a good motivator to stay active the rest of the time - I use it as a reason to go for a run or do a workout in my garage. My feeling about being active in my forties is 'Use it or lose it.' It's hard to regain what you lose once you stop at this age. It keeps me young, and 9 times out of 10 I drive home feeling really thankful that I'm still able to get out and skate. Playing with a crowd predominantly in their 20's helps me play smarter. I know I'm a step slower, but I can draw on 20-odd years of experience to make that play, intercept that pass, or poke check the guy with the crazy dangles - most of the time!

I watched my Dad work himself like a dog for most of his life, only to have heart problems force him into a short unenjoyable retirement fraught with frequent trips to the emergency room, ultimately passing on at the youngish age of 69. Enjoy the time you have now, because you don't know what the future holds.

[BlackIce 1]

There's been some really interesting work done with aging athletes, and the one universal constant is that if they continue to play their sport the way they did when they were young, they're unsuccessful, miserable, and often injured; if they adapt to age, they can continue to play happily and comfortably. Carrying weight is, obviously not good, but it's not a disaster either (he said, justifying his gut as a physical remembrance of good meals past). The main thing is adjusting the sport to fit your life.

Warm-up religiously, but simply. All you need to do is move roughly the way you're going to move on the ice: at first without equipment, then with equipment. It's all about blood-flow, respiration, and body temperature: if you feel warm, and you're breathing's up, you're all set. Above all, absolutely never, ever do static stretching before a skate - only after. I know most people know this by now, but I still catch myself doing the odd stretch in a warmup just because I always used to, and sure enough, that has a direct correlation with minor and not so minor injuries.

Stretch afterwards, again, like it's a rite. Flexibility is trainable at any age, but decreases with age. The rough guideline is to imagine a maximum stretch of that particular muscle, call it 10 out of 10, then hold the stretch at 4/10 for about a minute. All of this will add a significant amount of time to your skates, before and after, but it'll save you piles of time limping around the house and getting treatment: an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure, etc.

The vast majority of 'injuries' can usually be treated with a combination of rest, ice, compression, elevation, and massage. RICE you can do easily yourself; ditto massage, in fact. I would highly suggest going out and buying a self-applied massage book. There are tons of good ones, all of which help you to identify muscle groups, what they do, and how to massage them effectively. The only other equipment you might need is a rubber ball, and maybe a foam roll. By all means, if you've got the cash/insurance and time, go see an RMT at a sports medicine clinic to start. There are a small number of cases in which an underlying muscular weakness (requiring physiotherapy) or, more, a skeletal issue that produce mechanical problems, but in the vast majority, they'll simply advice better sports hygiene, and give you a few specific things to work on. Good sports medicine people have, in my experience, the best combination of diagnostic ability and therapeutic remedy you can find with respect to human movement.

The combination of warm-up, stretching, and well-studied self-applied massage will take care of damn near any problem you may have. If they don't, you'll have figured out that there probably is an underlying problem, and you can go back to get some help from a doctor.

+1 thanks for taking the time to post. I did a little research regarding static stretching. It seems like it's a contentious point (static vs dynamic stretching before physical activity). I see many hockey players still doing the static stretching before the game. Well, one thing that I've realized is that I'm not doing is a proper warm up. One thing that I hate about the beer/rec leagues is that once you get on the ice there is hardly anytime to properly warm up. Before you know it the ref blows the whistle to start the game up. I guess, I really need to get the rink early and do some sort of warm up off ice. Furthermore, maybe some icing of sore joints after the game would be helpful. Thanks for all the posts guys.

The supplement you're referring to is Glucosamine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosamine

Never tried it myself, but I've known others with joint pain who swear by it.

At 42, I am the oldest in my inline league by 5 or 6 years, and we play once a week. It's a good motivator to stay active the rest of the time - I use it as a reason to go for a run or do a workout in my garage. My feeling about being active in my forties is 'Use it or lose it.' It's hard to regain what you lose once you stop at this age. It keeps me young, and 9 times out of 10 I drive home feeling really thankful that I'm still able to get out and skate. Playing with a crowd predominantly in their 20's helps me play smarter. I know I'm a step slower, but I can draw on 20-odd years of experience to make that play, intercept that pass, or poke check the guy with the crazy dangles - most of the time!

I watched my Dad work himself like a dog for most of his life, only to have heart problems force him into a short unenjoyable retirement fraught with frequent trips to the emergency room, ultimately passing on at the youngish age of 69. Enjoy the time you have now, because you don't know what the future holds.

Yup, you are right. You really have to play a lot smarter at this age.

[bob_flip 0]

Well, I am trying to play 2 times a week in the summer and 3 during the winter months. I've just turned 41 and must say that after I play my right knee just aches. I've gone to the doctor and he said that it's just because of aging. My question for the middle age guys who play. What keeps you going despite the nagging pains? For me it's just keeping the gut down, the exercise and the love of the game.

I am 39, have 3 or 2 practices depend of season. Have reconstructed ACL and torn MCL in right knee, and torn MCL in left knee too. Broken both ankles and lot of sprain there. And last one, my left hip built by the doctor from few parts after fracture. If I do nothing I have a lot of pain, I can't sleep sometimes. My feeling is much better after practice, I have inline skating, pool and gym in time free of ice hockey. I have to work by legs every day, and get some calcium too.

[hamstercaster 2]

The supplement you're referring to is Glucosamine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosamine

Never tried it myself, but I've known others with joint pain who swear by it.

There have been studies that doubted the effects of Glucosamine. A new study as apparently proven that it doesn't do anything and is nothing more than a placebo effect.

[saba 0]

Must work out outside of hockey to make muscles stronger, tendons more pliable, oxygenation of working muscles etc...Most muscles in the body have an opposite working muscle group to counter act the force of contraction of that working muscle. Not working out running, biking, swimming etc..leads to over compensation of some working muscles, increases easier fatigue, with the final result injury etc...

Let me give you a non hockey example. Tons of cyclist I know have killer quadriceps and weak upper bodies. On the bike in max effort and effective spinning requires good legs, a solid core and lower back muscles. Without developing these muscle groups there are hip imbalances , back issues, knee pain etc...To keep going with this analogy, a proper form of cadence(rotating your pedals) not only requires a push down of the pedals but a pulling up in an arc(think of it as putting your toes into a cold lake and then pulling them out) all in one motion. Not only are you using the quads but the hammies as well......SEE counter acting muscles groups, both needing to be developed properly.

Guys here on MSH will tell you 1000 ways to maintain shape outside of hockey so use the search function. IMHO its vital if your serious about playing any sport over the age of 35 to have a solid physical fit base, eat right, and get max amounts of recovery between exertions.

[nickerjones 8]

I am only 28 but have been dealing with sciatia pain ever since I started skating in February. I have recently gotten 2 steroid injections . The first one last 2 weeks and I didnt have any pain. I had another one yesterday and I am hoping it lasts longer. I love playing but playing in pain sucks. The doctor said I can hurt sciatica more by playing. It actually loosens up after playing but the pain is unbearable sometimes!! Hopefully i can get it worked out. I think Pain is hampering my ability to learn to play this game better!

[chippa13 1844]

I used to have some bad issues with sciatica. I found that dropping a few pounds and doing some things to improve my posture, especially when sitting, have really helped. The shots will help the symptoms but they won't solve the problem.

[DarkStar50 679]

If the sciatica is in your legs, lie on the floor and do butt tucks. Get a firmer, harder mattress for sleeping. I had sciatica to my toes when I was 28 from a slipped disk. I know how bad it can be. i could barely sit in the car to drive. It took 15 months to go away and before I could skate again. My back still freezes up and locks if I'm not careful. I'm 53 now and will never stop playing and skating. I do stretch before I skate, wear neoprene with velcro knee braces and thigh wraps when I skate. They keep the muscles warm and it is something I have worn for so long I wouldn't take them off anyway. I also do hip flexor swings before I skate to loosen the hips in basically the same motion as a C cut on the ice. All the elite figure skaters at my rink do this for warmup before they skate. I think it helps. "You don't stop skating because you get old. You get old because you stop skating."

[Hooah4 12]

Just turned 40 3 weeks ago. I take the glucosamine, fish oil, etc...if it's a placebo it seems to work for me. I just keep playing because I love it and it gets me out of the house once or twice a week to blow out the stress from work, mortgage payments, marriage, etc....My dad used to play golf and it was just to get out and be with the guys as well.

I've found the more I exercise the better I feel, but it gets tough with all the commitments I tend to have. Either 5AM or 8Pm is my work out time @ home. Started P90 just to keep up my aerobic conditioning, etc over the summer.

[farhanshak 1]

working out (5-6x a week)

a good diet

keeping my weight in check (currently working on losing 15 lbs I gained during university)

YOGA...and stretching

playing soccer really helps.

and most of all, my love for the game.

I am 26 years old btw.

[roadkill34 0]

after a torn meniscus, got my knee scoped, then tore my MCL in the middle of my paramedic internship, took an extra month to finish, the wife made me give up goalie, but still skate out in order to exercise. and hockey is the best stress reliever ever!

[zebra_steve 11]

Because I'm stubborn, and my Doc told me that things would be a lot worse for me as I become less active..... More\worse chronic pain - shoulders, knees and back... arthritis would set in sooner..... Basically I will fall apart faster if I am less active.... I'm 44 and am HIGH MILEAGE.... injury thread

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

My list of injuries is as long as my age (43) but the current one might not go away without surgery and that has me spooked. I torn the labrum in my hip and while PT helps compensate nothing will make that go away. The thing of it is that had I truly been in better shape, done dynamic warmups and worked on core strengthening I might have avoided it.

[Da Beez 0]

I'm going to turn 45 in a month and I play 3x week from Sept-April. I keep going because I'm still trying to improve my game and playing fast hockey keeps you young. The big thing for me is to take a break from hockey in the summer to rest my injuries and re-new my desire to play. I play softball 4x week in the summer so I can stay competitive but do something totally different from hockey.

The big thing for me is to have a good stretching routine, stay active throughout the year and adjust my game to play smarter.