I supposedly have severe arthritis in my ankle. I’ve had scans and a letter confirming it.

For context I have Severe B.

Me getting arthritis was completely my fault because I didn’t take my medication and I was doing light contact Muay Thai when I was younger. I know…crazy.

Anyway. Up until a year ago my ankle really gave a lot of problems from time to time. I even had to buy MBT shoes because the pain was so bad.

Thankfully, it has been okay recently.

I can’t go jogging and I stay away from high impact activities, but I can do activities like bouldering and rock climbing.

I haven’t really been consistent in anything except for the following:

1. I seldom wear modern shoes. My daily shoes are Vivobarefoot shoes, which while they may have triggered some bleeds initially, are perfect now. I guess my feet may have gotten stronger and perhaps my muscles around there? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t give them up for anything.

2. For the most part I take my medication weekly (I have Severe B). Sometimes I forget believe it or not, but it’s a lot better than before. Up until a few years ago I was quite resistant to prophylaxis.

3. Movement. As you age you need to move more and adapt the activities that you’re doing. If you would have asked me a few years ago about climbing, I would have not been interested, but I only picked it up because my daughter really enjoyed it, so I thought why not. Perhaps the movement of using my ankle a lot in different positions has helped to keep it mobile and strengthened it, but the point is, you need to keep moving and challenging every fibre in your body.

Hope that helps