Diane Foster
Writing at Trailkin
About
I'm 54, I'm an office manager in suburban Boston, and I hiked in the Middlesex Fells and Blue Hills every weekend for twenty years. The fall of 2022 was when I first had to stop on a descent because my hips hurt -- a loop I'd walked dozens of times, and I was walking sideways down the rocky section because straight ahead hurt too much. Aging surprises you on a trail you thought you owned. I went home and was angry about it for six months.
I used a foam roller with deep resentment. My doctor said "you're 53 and you hike rocky terrain every weekend" -- sympathetically enough, but with an undertone that suggested he'd said this version of the sentence before. Eventually I stopped being angry and started actually trying things.
The trekking poles were the biggest single change. I resisted them for months. I had decided I was not going to become that kind of hiker. Then I borrowed a friend's pair on a November Blue Hills hike -- the stretch of trail between the main parking lot and the quarry overlook, where the roots make the descent genuinely technical in wet weather. My hips felt measurably different after. I bought my own at REI that weekend and have hiked without hip pain for most of the time since March 2023. That is not nothing.
The supplement experiment is messier. Two years in, turmeric made a consistent difference in my morning stiffness -- small, repeatable, and noticeable when I stopped taking it. Three other supplements I tried for 30-plus days produced nothing distinguishable from a good week. Those reviews exist and say exactly that.
I'm not a doctor or physical therapist. Nothing I write is medical advice. What I have is twenty years of hiking experience, two years of adapting to joints that now have requirements, and enough failed experiments to know the difference between "this works" and "I want this to work."
Posts by Diane Foster
- Why Trekking Poles for Bad Knees Changed My Weekend Hiking Routine
- Best Hip Flexor Stretches to Relieve Tightness After a Weekend Hike
- Can You Use JointVive for Joint Lubrication Between Weekend Hikes?
- Best Natural Alternatives to Ibuprofen for Chronic Joint Pain Over 50
- Best Exercises for Stiff Knees After Sitting at a Desk All Day
- JointVive vs Standard Glucosamine: What Worked for Me
- My Honest Review of Joint Genesis After Three Months
- Why My Evening Stretch Routine Includes This One Tool
- My Top 3 Non-Negotiable Supplements for Trail Readiness
- Does Joint Genesis Actually Work for Suburban Hikers?
- How I Strengthened My Knees Without Using Heavy Weights (2026 Update)
- The Hard Lesson of Trading Miles for Mobility: Why I'm Hiking Shorter and Feeling Better
- How to Pick Hiking Boots That Save Your Knees (2026 Refresh)
- 5 Foods I Cut Out to Reduce Joint Swelling: My 16-Week Audit
- Why Sitting All Day Still Kills My Hip Mobility — And How I’m Fighting Back at 54
- The 16-Minute Morning Routine That Keeps My Joints Trail-Ready at 54
- How I Got Back to Hiking After My Knees Said No — A Year Later Update
Disclosure
This site includes affiliate links. If you buy through one, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only mention products that fit into my active outdoor lifestyle -- if something didn't hold up on the trail or didn't make a difference, I say so. No financial relationship with any healthcare provider beyond standard retail affiliate commissions.