I’ve been having a frustrating time with one leg injury after another. I’m guessing it began three years ago, when hip replacement surgery resulted in a tilted pelvis, which resulted in my right leg seeming longer than my left. Also, because my spine wanted my head to remain atop my torso instead of pointing to one side, I also got scoliosis. This resulted, for whatever reason, in chronic pain in my legs.
After three years of physical therapy, chiropractic, spinal injections, massage, trigger point injections, and acupuncture, I’ve finally found a physical therapist who seems to be helping, and I’m walking better and standing straighter, and the leg pain has faded somewhat. But I keep getting injuries.
Last year I got a torn right Achilles tendon, which caused me to acquire both a cane and a leg brace. I kept up my usual activities, and I kept re-injuring the tendon, so starting in June I decided to abandon exercise altogether, and this resulted (after five months) in a healed tendon. No more cane for me!
I started exercising again, and after a short while I developed swelling and pain in my right knee. A shot I referred to as the “rooster booster” helped it heal.
Then I somehow damaged my left ankle, which caused both ankles to swell. Exercise actually helped reduce the swelling, so that was good, and by and by the pain and swelling went away.
Then I tripped on a stair in Malta, and re-injured the right knee. Fortunately it only hurt for a few days.
Then, just last week, when I was packing to leave Louy’s mountain cabin, I was brought up short by a searing pain in my right leg, blazing a line of fire from my heel to the knee. I thought the knee had injured itself again, but I couldn’t be sure— all the muscles attached to the knee were afire, but the knee itself was pain-free.
I hobbled like Quasimodo for that day, and hobbled a little less the next day, and by the third day I could walk normally, though I was very careful lest I re-injure myself.
When this sort of thing happens, people ask me, “What did you do?” With the exception of tripping on the marble stair in Malta, I did nothing to provoke any of these injuries. It seems I am at the stage of life when injuries occur all on their own, without any help from me.
None of this has done my conditioning any good. I’m running on the elliptical trainer when injuries permit, and before I wheeze out, I run for about half the time I did two years ago.
I have noticed that all but one of these injuries occurred to the right leg. With my tilted pelvis, the right leg is longer than the left, and therefore does most of the work in walking and carrying my weight.
Quite frankly, I think my right leg has about had it with this arrangement, and is going to keep injuring itself until the situation gets fixed. So I’m hoping this latest physical therapist knows what he’s doing.
Normally I would have a conclusion at this point, but I can’t conclude anything, because everything’s still in flux.
I’m trying to work. I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to get my conditioning back.
But for right now, I’m going to put my feet up and watch some television featuring people who have far worse lives than me. Not to make me feel better, but to make me feel thankful that I don’t have their problems.
