Socks - How old were you when awkward to get on?

[Scarletpimpofnel]

I'm wondering if I have gone old early!

At age 56 I can put socks on ok but need to sit on the bed and due to excess weight get a bit out of breath for a few seconds. Losing weight will solve this largely but is this normal at this age?!

[sherman]

Brutal response but here we go.

Your fat and unfit if you cant put socks on without losing your breath.

This should be the wake up call you need before you have a heart attack or a stroke.

[FreeLitres]

Well that escalated quickly!

[Riley Blue]

Absolutely true though, putting on socks shouldn't cause breathlessness, not at any age.

Shed the excess weight and all manner of activities become easier and put less strain on your heart.

[CheesecakeRunner]

Fully agree. A reasonable measure of fitness at most ages is whether you can put socks on standing up, including balancing on one leg for it, same goes for shoes.

Struggle a bit myself with it, but it’s simply because I’m 50lbs overweight.

[DickyC]

At 68 I have to sit down to put socks on but it's because I lose my balance. I have recently joined the Long Range Shoehorn Group. It is so much more convenient. Wish I'd joined years ago.

[spikeyhead]

I'm 57 and can still put them on whilst standing

If I was getting out of breath doing it I'd be worried

[Terminator X]

At my bootcamp the chap does a lot of balancing on one leg exercises as he says that goes quick as you get older.

TX.

[markymarkthree]

DickyC said:

At 68 I have to sit down to put socks on but it's because I lose my balance. I have recently joined the Long Range Shoehorn Group. It is so much more convenient. Wish I'd joined years ago.

Hopefully i (65) will never use one of those, as i enjoy taking the pi55 out of my son (31) for using one.

As for socks, stand on one leg, rest other leg across knee, put on sock. Repeat for other side. Same goes for some shoes.

[troc]

Stand on one leg whilst cheating your teeth. 2 minutes balancing one one leg a day is a great way to improve knee muscle strength, it takes up no time as you are doing teeth anyway and if you can do that, you can put on your socks

I have a damaged muscle in one knee which makes it unstable so this is part of my rehab at the moment. Only socks I can’t really do standing up are my weird toe socks I use for long-distance running to avoid blisters and they are a right pain to fit to each toe!

[ucb]

Only struggle to get a sock on my left foot because of all the metalwork in it

[PositronicRay]

troc said:

Stand on one leg whilst cheating your teeth. 2 minutes balancing one one leg a day is a great way to improve knee muscle strength, it takes up no time as you are doing teeth anyway and if you can do that, you can put on your socks

!

Good tip, I'm going to try that.

[DickyC]

markymarkthree said:

DickyC said:

At 68 I have to sit down to put socks on but it's because I lose my balance. I have recently joined the Long Range Shoehorn Group. It is so much more convenient. Wish I'd joined years ago.

Hopefully i (65) will never use one of those, as i enjoy taking the pi55 out of my son (31) for using one.

As for socks, stand on one leg, rest other leg across knee, put on sock. Repeat for other side. Same goes for some shoes.

The long shoehorn is for convenience rather than out of necessity. Fairly often I still have to bend down to sort out the socks, laces and shoe tongue logjam. But in principle it's more convenient.

Laughing at your kids is to encouraged though. Once or twice a year my lads and I used to have a little kick about. As I got older and even less fit they took up smoking. I had so much more stamina than they did. This simple demonstration may have helped them give up.

[Fore Left]

I'm 59 and its never, ever occurred to me that I might need to sit down to put my socks on.

As a test I've just stood on one leg taking my sock off on and off. Did it 5 times in a row then got bored

[ARHarh]

I am 59 (well in a months time) I always sit to put my socks on. Never thought about it before, just do it. I have just spent the last few moments standing on one leg taking my socks off and putting them back on again. I can now report, the wife thinks I have lost my marbles, but I am not out of breath and I have no broken bones so I guess I can still get my socks on OK.

[PositronicRay]

ARHarh said:

I am 59 (well in a months time) I always sit to put my socks on. Never thought about it before, just do it. I have just spent the last few moments standing on one leg taking my socks off and putting them back on again. I can now report, the wife thinks I have lost my marbles, but I am not out of breath and I have no broken bones so I guess I can still get my socks on OK.

I'm not sure you should try this advanced stuff, putting additional strain on striking NHS. To the OP have you considered just leaving your socks on for the time-being?

[sociopath]

61, not overweight but have to sit down to put socks on, it's easier, but also unstable knees due to previous skiing and cycling damage means I'm likely to dislocate myself if I'm not perfectly square.

I did get out of breath doing it, but then realised its because I was holding my breath. We do develop some weird habits as we get old

[DickyC]

PositronicRay said:

I'm not sure you should try this advanced stuff, putting additional strain on striking NHS. To the OP have you considered just leaving your socks on for the time-being?

How about in situ sock cleaning? There's a marketing opportunity if ever there was one. Step into this year's must have, the All New Sock-O-Wash! Leave your socks on and take ALL the effort out of sock misery.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

PositronicRay said:

troc said:

Stand on one leg whilst cheating your teeth. 2 minutes balancing one one leg a day is a great way to improve knee muscle strength, it takes up no time as you are doing teeth anyway and if you can do that, you can put on your socks

!

Good tip, I'm going to try that.

Yes that’s my issue. I have a complete lack of balance which is why I sit on the bed. I’ll try the regular standing on one foot thing then see if I can put socks on without sitting down.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

sherman said:

Brutal response but here we go.

Your fat and unfit if you cant put socks on without losing your breath.

This should be the wake up call you need before you have a heart attack or a stroke.

That’s fair enough mate. No offence taken. I’m aiming to lose two stone early next year. I’ve lost 4 in the past so know how to do it. Lack of balance is why I sit down, have never had a good sense of balance even as a kid.