My back is fixed! (by alaric)
Over the past few years, I've been getting worsening pain in my lower back. An ache just to the right of my spine (where it joins to my pelvis), with shooting pain down to my right knee; sometimes it would be so bad I couldn't stand up straight. At first this would only happen if I'd had a hard weekend carrying boxes or doing long drives, but it became more and more frequent, until I was having to carefully watch my posture in every aspect of my life for fear of triggering it. I went to see the doctor about it, and she noticed that my pelvis tilts to my left when I stand straight, as if my right leg were longer than my left. This puts strain on my Sacroiliac joint and compresses my Sciatic nerve, which causes the pain in my knee.
She told me that these kinds of problems are very complex, with the actual cause often thoroughly masked by other problems that are caused by it, so she recommended I see a physiotherapist (she recommended a local private one, as the NHS physiotherapy service is limited) as well as reading a book on posture that she recommended in order to undo the secondary problems.
Well, being a cheapskate, I started with the posture book and focussed on the sections about the pelvis. I was interested to read about how the body's load is carried by it, and looking back, realised I'd been uncomfortable sitting in chairs for prolonged periods, and standing with my right leg out at an angle, since I was in my early teens; indicating that the problem went back at least that far.
Working to improve my posture made me feel more pain at first, as I was trying to stop doing the "compensating" distortions of my posture that were masking the underlying problem; then the pain started to become less, and less frequent, but it still didn't go away. So I bit the bullet and booked an appointment with Ford Ashworth, the recommended physiotherapist, who was also highly recommended by people in my Krav Maga group.
After prodding and poking and bending and testing me, he quickly came up with a diagnosis: my right leg was not the problem at all, but my left leg has been somehow pushed up into my pelvis at some point in the past. The ball joint of my hip was misplaced, crushing the squishy jointy stuff into the socket in my pelvis, and making my left leg seem a couple of centimetres shorter than my right. He also found that I had some minor damage to my sciatic nerve on my left hand side, and was mildly surprised I had no recollection of a childhood injury. He was concerned that unless it got better, the continued grinding of the joint would lead to me needing a hip replacement in just a few more years.
Having found that out, he wasted no time in yanking my leg back down to where it should be (I am being literal here; he grabbed my leg and pulled it in a variety of directions, sometimes using my other leg or his arm as a lever, after giving me a punishing massage to relax all the muscles holding it in place), and giving me a series of exercises to do to help the ligaments and muscles stretch to their new length.
When I first stood up again, I nearly fell over; it took me a few minutes' practice to get used to walking with my left leg the same length as my right, for the first time in decades; my balance was all wrong. I could feel my left foot hitting the ground sooner than it seemed it should.
So I set off to work, feeling the new sensations of walking with interest. I found it far easier getting into and out of the car; not only did it not hurt, but my legs just seemed stronger. But what really struck me was that climbing the stairs into the office seemed almost effortless, and then I remained comfortable in my chair all day rather than feeling a growing tension. I felt surprisingly relaxed, and felt in danger of dozing off in my seat!
That evening I did my stretching exercises, then set out for a short walk, which went fine.
Come bedtime, I found that rolling over in bed was suddenly a lot easier... looking back, rolling over had felt like I was turning my torso and dragging my legs along like dead weight, in comparison.
I've felt a few small twinges in my right sacroiliac joint since; I presume it will take a while for the inflammation to all settle down. And I keep noticing other odd little things, such as that when I stand straight, my elbows touch the tops of my hips on both sides - before, my right elbow didn't touch anything while my left arm was sort of flush with the side of my body all the way down.
So, I'm hoping that the cost of a mere £50 and an hour of my time has saved me from being crippled before I'm forty!
Wed 17th Apr 2013 10:22 am 
Subscribe
By sarah, Wed 17th Apr 2013 @ 6:35 pm
Love you - so glad it was so easily fixed 🙂