The Importance of Elderly Exercise: My cycling hobby saved my leg

Last year, I had quite an awakening to the importance of exercise for us older folks (I’m 80 years old now). I went to the doctor to see why my right calf muscle strain would not heal. Earlier, I had made this entry:

“June 26, 2025–Rode my bicycle out to meet my son’s family. My right calf is very sore, and so I rode rather than walked with them.”

Riding my bicycle took the strain off that calf. My doctor started her exam. She did an overall exam and examined my ankle, looking for my ankle and foot pulses.

Well, she found the left ankle and foot pulses but could not find the right ones. She recommended that I see the Adventist Health Vascular Lab, and I told her I’d make a reservation next week. She said, “No, tomorrow!”

That was on a Thursday, October 20, 2025. I saw them the following day on Friday. They performed a non-invasive arterial Doppler study and found a problem.

They wouldn’t tell me, but I got a call from the on-call doc at OHSU asking that I immediately go to the ER for an evaluation.

It turned out I had a complete blockage of my superficial femoral artery, and my leg was being fed only by collateral flow from other sources at about 70 percent of normal flow. Hence the calf “strain” symptoms were actually my calf muscle protesting lack of blood flow.

I went directly to the ER, and the physician saw me. He asked a number of questions, but when I told him that at that time I had about 1,200 miles cycling on that leg for the year, he was less worried. My bicycling had lessened the effects of that blocked artery. It may have saved my leg, too.

By John C. Ratliff, Beaverton Committee on Aging board member. Learn more about the BCOA at www.BeavertonOregon.gov/BCOA .