There are lots of little things when it’s not at a completely untenable level. Stuff like:
Going up a flight or three of steps and really feeling it in my knees, slowing down, and saying ‘hoo-oof.’
Waking up and stepping out of bed and feeling general unpleasantness in my feet, ankles, knees, hips, or back.
Quickly seeking out places to sit when walking around, particularly if there’s also longer periods of standing, because my back would become terribly stiff.
Walking on uneven surfaces and having a much harder time catching myself when I stumbled, not infrequently causing me to tweak something in my ankle or knee.
Always having something hurting a bit. Usually my knees, back, or ankles, but maybe I tried to catch myself with my arm and my elbow didn’t like it because it wasn’t ready to arrest that much mass that quickly.
Trying to keep up on a somewhat sloped section of sidewalk and trying to not sound like I was struggling.
Being unable to basic motions like squatting (unweighted) without significant pain, and needing to use my arms to stand up.
Being woken up by aches.
Accumulated damage from mild and moderate sprains making itself known for years after the original incidents.
Conscious avoidance. Looking at some stairs and having a pang of “ugh,” and looking for an alternative.
Subconscious avoidance. Reaching down to pick up a backpack from the floor, but bracing one arm against a desk to minimize how much load is carried by my knees or hips because my learned motor patterns took into account that going too much further than that was hard and would likely be painful.
When it progresses, it’s hard to miss:
Laying on the ground, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of how thoroughly stuck I was, because laughing would hurt too much. I tried motivating myself to move, but came to the conclusion that even if there was a knife-wielding madman sprinting toward me in that moment, the involuntary muscle spasms caused by the pain would not have let me escape.
Walking around a corner, slowly, with bare feet, on level ground, indoors, and rolling my ankle.
Sometimes being unable to walk normally for days at a time because one of my knees decided to fall out of position while walking and putting weight on it afterwards squished a bunch of soft tissues that weren’t supposed to be pinched like that.
Injuries becoming mentally routine. Getting too much practice breathing through acute pain, developing a dispassionate approach to checking the joint to see how bad it is, begrudgingly calling for help when it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to walk.
There are lots of little things when it’s not at a completely untenable level. Stuff like:
Going up a flight or three of steps and really feeling it in my knees, slowing down, and saying ‘hoo-oof.’
Waking up and stepping out of bed and feeling general unpleasantness in my feet, ankles, knees, hips, or back.
Quickly seeking out places to sit when walking around, particularly if there’s also longer periods of standing, because my back would become terribly stiff.
Walking on uneven surfaces and having a much harder time catching myself when I stumbled, not infrequently causing me to tweak something in my ankle or knee.
Always having something hurting a bit. Usually my knees, back, or ankles, but maybe I tried to catch myself with my arm and my elbow didn’t like it because it wasn’t ready to arrest that much mass that quickly.
Trying to keep up on a somewhat sloped section of sidewalk and trying to not sound like I was struggling.
Being unable to basic motions like squatting (unweighted) without significant pain, and needing to use my arms to stand up.
Being woken up by aches.
Accumulated damage from mild and moderate sprains making itself known for years after the original incidents.
Conscious avoidance. Looking at some stairs and having a pang of “ugh,” and looking for an alternative.
Subconscious avoidance. Reaching down to pick up a backpack from the floor, but bracing one arm against a desk to minimize how much load is carried by my knees or hips because my learned motor patterns took into account that going too much further than that was hard and would likely be painful.
When it progresses, it’s hard to miss:
Laying on the ground, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of how thoroughly stuck I was, because laughing would hurt too much. I tried motivating myself to move, but came to the conclusion that even if there was a knife-wielding madman sprinting toward me in that moment, the involuntary muscle spasms caused by the pain would not have let me escape.
Walking around a corner, slowly, with bare feet, on level ground, indoors, and rolling my ankle.
Sometimes being unable to walk normally for days at a time because one of my knees decided to fall out of position while walking and putting weight on it afterwards squished a bunch of soft tissues that weren’t supposed to be pinched like that.
Injuries becoming mentally routine. Getting too much practice breathing through acute pain, developing a dispassionate approach to checking the joint to see how bad it is, begrudgingly calling for help when it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to walk.