the awesome
Feb. 8th, 2008 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Had my appointment with the physical therapist yesterday. He's a dude who knows a dude who's the brother of the owner of the rink where we skate. When I fell and couldn't get up at practice the Sunday before last, because it hurt too bad, I was given this dude's email address. So I set up an appointment for him to look at my legs, free, without health insurance, just to figure out what was wrong and what I could do about it. So I hiked off to Niagara Falls, taking the afternoon off work yesterday, and got myself checked out.
He suspected patellar tendonitis, but as he pointed out, that's just a way of classifying the symptoms, and the diagnosis gives no insight into the cause, which could be injury damage or something mechanical wrong with someone's gait or posture, or too much exercise or poorly-done exercises or too sudden an increase in exercise or about half a dozen wildly differing causes. So he poked and prodded, asked what hurt, pushed and pulled at my knee and watched all the ligaments to see what seemed wrong.
Embarrassingly, almost nothing hurt. I've been off my feet all week, and haven't skated since Sunday or really, walked more than from my couch to the kitchen table to my car to my desk to the bathroom to the desk to the bathroom to the car to the couch to bed. I was in so much pain, but it's totally gone now. So I kept sort of apologetically saying, "That doesn't really hurt, but it kind of twinges and I know it would've made me shriek two days ago."
He did a lot of nodding, looking alternately puzzled and pleased. Then he had me stand with my legs straight. I realized that I never, never, never straighten my knees all the way. "This hurts kind of a lot," I said, wincing. He had me face away from him.
"Aha," he said.
Then he went to get a pen and paper, so I stood there wondering what "aha" was supposed to mean.
He drew a diagram which I can't recreate here, but in essence, it showed my lower legs, and my heel, and how my achilles tendon bends outward to attach to the outside of my heel when I stand flat. I am over-pronating my foot. I have high arches that, when unsupported, my feet roll over onto. This causes me to stand knock-kneed. This is exaggerated further when my knees are bent, as they are while skating.
That explains why it's not only skating that hurts, but standing around inactive. (I have a mirror set up at counter height in my bathroom which I put there so I could sit and do my makeup the day of the bout, because I knew standing to do my face and hair would leave me sore before we even skated.) I have always had trouble with this.
He indicated that it may be further exaggerated by overdeveloped muscles on the front of my thighs as well as the insides of my legs. Which also makes sense-- that inside leg makes a powerful sweeping motion across, behind/underneath the outside leg during a properly-executed crossover (examples: girl in yellow-striped helmet cover, pink girl, Redfox, Supernova), and the condition is *much* worse in that leg, and the bend of the tendon is far more pronounced as well.
This, of course, puts excessive strain on the knees, with the result that the lower part of the patellar tendons in both legs, but especially on the left, are sore and very prone to inflammation and irritation. He also suspected that perhaps, the inflammation has spread to the cartilage behind the kneecap, and caused some roughening there, which makes it difficult for me to bend the knee all the way; he couldn't verify that, but said it was unlikely to be serious or irreparable, as I was only 28. But that would explain my extreme pain when attempting to bend the knee much over 90 degrees on my sore days.
So he cut little bits of foam, little half-moons to go in the arches of both shoes, and a littler straight bit to go under my left heel, and told me never to wear high heels. Not even low-high heels. Which I already suspected: I have never been able to walk or stand a long time in heels, and so weddings, funerals, and hot nights out have always been excruciating. But I just thought I was a wuss. Apparently heels always strain the inside of the leg and tend to cause over-pronation.
He also gave me a regimen of heat, stretching, exercises, and ice that I am to follow daily. He said I should try this for two weeks and then call him. Meanwhile maybe if I got health insurance sorted out, I could make an appointment to see the doctor in his facility, who could prescribe some more aggressive things and do some more in-depth diagnostics.
So I left, and went home, and was so psyched by it all I did a bunch of laundry and mostly cleaned the living room in the extra hour before Z got home. My knee hurt, as I was barefoot, but I thought it might be excessive to put orthotics into my dang slippers...
Went to skating practice. Put the pads into my skates. Skated several laps.
"Holy shit," I said to one of my teammates. "This doesn't hurt." I could cross over entirely, I could skate fast, I could push hard, it didn't hurt. I considered taking a dramatic double-knee fall, but decided against it at the last moment. I will soon though.
The real acid test was afterward, though. I pulled the pads out of my skates, and put them into my shoes, and went to the bar with my teammates. I sat for a little while, watching the amusement. But as the evening wore on, I stood up to be involved in a conversation. I stood for half an hour and never had to stretch my knees, didn't have to fidget, didn't find myself looking for things to lean against. I sat briefly and then stood again, didn't walk around in little circles, didn't stand on one leg and then the other alternately, didn't rock onto my toes and grimace.
I didn't come home until 1:30 because it just didn't hurt so I wasn't tired.
This morning, of course, was the moment of truth. I played footsie games under the blanket with Chita, and then finally got up, and walked to the bathroom, and had precisely one twinge in the normally-better knee. That was it. I could've run or skipped or hopped around the house. I would've, if Z weren't sleeping.
So it was like being entirely cured. I wrote an effusive thank-you to the physical therapist. And I will be better about the heat, the stretching, the exercises, the ice, faithfully, every day, but last night I was just so excited that it didn't hurt, that I didn't bother icing at all. And I'm completely fine today. I have the inserts in my shoes and am skipping cheerfully around the office without a smidgeon of Motrin or anything. It's like heaven.
The other little bit of heaven is that when I got home, still unconvinced of the efficacy of my cure, there was an envelope from my employers' health insurance company sitting there. I applied through work, they said they weren't sure it would go through, and then I didn't hear back for over two weeks. Monday the HR (and sort of all-purpose) lady, seeing how bad I was limping, said she'd better check up on it. (I complain on here all the time, but forget to mention, they really are human here.) The company had lost my paperwork, and she'd have to re-fax it.
She bawled them out, and she can be quite intimidating.
Yesterday my insurance card arrived.
I REALLY HAVE REAL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIKE FOREVER OMG.
So I'm psyched. About everything.
Oh, in addition, the highlight reel of Saturday night's bout is up already. February 2nd, 2008: Mardi Brawl: Devil Dollies vs. Suicidal Saucies.
He suspected patellar tendonitis, but as he pointed out, that's just a way of classifying the symptoms, and the diagnosis gives no insight into the cause, which could be injury damage or something mechanical wrong with someone's gait or posture, or too much exercise or poorly-done exercises or too sudden an increase in exercise or about half a dozen wildly differing causes. So he poked and prodded, asked what hurt, pushed and pulled at my knee and watched all the ligaments to see what seemed wrong.
Embarrassingly, almost nothing hurt. I've been off my feet all week, and haven't skated since Sunday or really, walked more than from my couch to the kitchen table to my car to my desk to the bathroom to the desk to the bathroom to the car to the couch to bed. I was in so much pain, but it's totally gone now. So I kept sort of apologetically saying, "That doesn't really hurt, but it kind of twinges and I know it would've made me shriek two days ago."
He did a lot of nodding, looking alternately puzzled and pleased. Then he had me stand with my legs straight. I realized that I never, never, never straighten my knees all the way. "This hurts kind of a lot," I said, wincing. He had me face away from him.
"Aha," he said.
Then he went to get a pen and paper, so I stood there wondering what "aha" was supposed to mean.
He drew a diagram which I can't recreate here, but in essence, it showed my lower legs, and my heel, and how my achilles tendon bends outward to attach to the outside of my heel when I stand flat. I am over-pronating my foot. I have high arches that, when unsupported, my feet roll over onto. This causes me to stand knock-kneed. This is exaggerated further when my knees are bent, as they are while skating.
That explains why it's not only skating that hurts, but standing around inactive. (I have a mirror set up at counter height in my bathroom which I put there so I could sit and do my makeup the day of the bout, because I knew standing to do my face and hair would leave me sore before we even skated.) I have always had trouble with this.
He indicated that it may be further exaggerated by overdeveloped muscles on the front of my thighs as well as the insides of my legs. Which also makes sense-- that inside leg makes a powerful sweeping motion across, behind/underneath the outside leg during a properly-executed crossover (examples: girl in yellow-striped helmet cover, pink girl, Redfox, Supernova), and the condition is *much* worse in that leg, and the bend of the tendon is far more pronounced as well.
This, of course, puts excessive strain on the knees, with the result that the lower part of the patellar tendons in both legs, but especially on the left, are sore and very prone to inflammation and irritation. He also suspected that perhaps, the inflammation has spread to the cartilage behind the kneecap, and caused some roughening there, which makes it difficult for me to bend the knee all the way; he couldn't verify that, but said it was unlikely to be serious or irreparable, as I was only 28. But that would explain my extreme pain when attempting to bend the knee much over 90 degrees on my sore days.
So he cut little bits of foam, little half-moons to go in the arches of both shoes, and a littler straight bit to go under my left heel, and told me never to wear high heels. Not even low-high heels. Which I already suspected: I have never been able to walk or stand a long time in heels, and so weddings, funerals, and hot nights out have always been excruciating. But I just thought I was a wuss. Apparently heels always strain the inside of the leg and tend to cause over-pronation.
He also gave me a regimen of heat, stretching, exercises, and ice that I am to follow daily. He said I should try this for two weeks and then call him. Meanwhile maybe if I got health insurance sorted out, I could make an appointment to see the doctor in his facility, who could prescribe some more aggressive things and do some more in-depth diagnostics.
So I left, and went home, and was so psyched by it all I did a bunch of laundry and mostly cleaned the living room in the extra hour before Z got home. My knee hurt, as I was barefoot, but I thought it might be excessive to put orthotics into my dang slippers...
Went to skating practice. Put the pads into my skates. Skated several laps.
"Holy shit," I said to one of my teammates. "This doesn't hurt." I could cross over entirely, I could skate fast, I could push hard, it didn't hurt. I considered taking a dramatic double-knee fall, but decided against it at the last moment. I will soon though.
The real acid test was afterward, though. I pulled the pads out of my skates, and put them into my shoes, and went to the bar with my teammates. I sat for a little while, watching the amusement. But as the evening wore on, I stood up to be involved in a conversation. I stood for half an hour and never had to stretch my knees, didn't have to fidget, didn't find myself looking for things to lean against. I sat briefly and then stood again, didn't walk around in little circles, didn't stand on one leg and then the other alternately, didn't rock onto my toes and grimace.
I didn't come home until 1:30 because it just didn't hurt so I wasn't tired.
This morning, of course, was the moment of truth. I played footsie games under the blanket with Chita, and then finally got up, and walked to the bathroom, and had precisely one twinge in the normally-better knee. That was it. I could've run or skipped or hopped around the house. I would've, if Z weren't sleeping.
So it was like being entirely cured. I wrote an effusive thank-you to the physical therapist. And I will be better about the heat, the stretching, the exercises, the ice, faithfully, every day, but last night I was just so excited that it didn't hurt, that I didn't bother icing at all. And I'm completely fine today. I have the inserts in my shoes and am skipping cheerfully around the office without a smidgeon of Motrin or anything. It's like heaven.
The other little bit of heaven is that when I got home, still unconvinced of the efficacy of my cure, there was an envelope from my employers' health insurance company sitting there. I applied through work, they said they weren't sure it would go through, and then I didn't hear back for over two weeks. Monday the HR (and sort of all-purpose) lady, seeing how bad I was limping, said she'd better check up on it. (I complain on here all the time, but forget to mention, they really are human here.) The company had lost my paperwork, and she'd have to re-fax it.
She bawled them out, and she can be quite intimidating.
Yesterday my insurance card arrived.
I REALLY HAVE REAL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIKE FOREVER OMG.
So I'm psyched. About everything.
Oh, in addition, the highlight reel of Saturday night's bout is up already. February 2nd, 2008: Mardi Brawl: Devil Dollies vs. Suicidal Saucies.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-08 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-08 03:11 pm (UTC)I had no idea it was that bad.
But yes-- it's like a miracle.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-08 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 03:02 am (UTC)