So, I have slowly ticked off physical therapy on all of my old and some new injuries. First, a new injury on the left posterial tibial tendon. Second, sciatica running down my left leg and associated with weak/non-functioning multifidus muscles. Third, an old injury on the right shoulder. Finally, a very old injury on the right knee.
I was diagnosed a long time ago with patellular tendonitis, which I believe I have talked about before. The inflammation in the knee comes and goes, but over winter break while skiing on an extended ski trip, I really aggravated it.
So, I went back to Travis today. I was more than a little embarrassed when he asked, “Are you still doing your low back exercises?” and I had to reply, “No” because I stupidly stopped doing them once I started right shoulder exercises. There are so many exercises that help the very important little muscles, and those exercises take a lot of time. It is difficult to prioritize which exercises to continue and which ones to stop, especially when I want to be able to say that I can squat 75 pounds! In other words, so much to do, so little time.
Well, Travis told me that I have fatigue in my hip abductor muscles, which is caused by a weak low back (i.e. multifidus muscles not firing.). OMG! Do you mean that if I had just done the silly back muscle move for 6 months I wouldn’t be here?!!! GAAAAHHHHH!!!
That’s frustration my friends.
It gets better. He then tells me to keep foam rolling, and when I tell him that it hurts when I foam roll over my hip bone, he says not to foam roll there because it will irritate the bursa. The bursa? According to http://www.medicinenet.com/hip_bursitis/article.htm, a bursa is a closed fluid-filled sac that functions as a gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body. In the case of my hip, it is the fluid sac that allows the IT band to roll smoothly over the hip bone. Turns out that when you foam roll the bursa, you irritate it. Hmm. That makes sense. No wonder it hurts to roll over my hip bone! Personally, I’m happy to hear I have to foam roll less surface area – that equals less time foam rolling!
Also, my right patella actually sits a little wonky. When looking at your knee cap (patella), it should be like a triangle with the top side straight across. My patella is higher on one side than the other when at rest. When the muscles all pull on it, that means that it tracks incorrectly when it moves, which creates friction, irritation and pain. Apparently, my IT band is pulling on it, as well as other muscles in the quad series. With all of this uneven force, it’s no wonder the poor little patella isn’t able to find it’s groove.
So, as a quick fix today, Travis taped the knee. He said to try it out for a few days and see how it works. So far, it doesn’t hurt, but it is strange. I’m going to wear it during my workout with Melissa and see how that goes. I think I do kinda like it. He also said that if I do like it I needed to come in and learn how to tape myself for the upcoming ski trip. The tape should help while skiing.
He also said NO FLEXION! AGAIN! Bleh. So, no bending over to stretch, no squats, no dead lifts, nothing that causes my back to go out of neutral spine. So long 75 pound lifts. I guess I’ll see you later after I’ve got those multifidous muscles firing again.
Also, no more pigeon pose stretches. He said that those are probably not doing any good, not to mention they cause all kinds of flexion. I’m kind of ok with this because that’s one less stretch to do.
Ok, so back to the rehab again. I’m so glad I’ve a good team to help me get my body really functioning correctly! GO VILLAGE!
Tags: abductor, foam rolling, knee tape, multifidus muscles, no flexion, physical therapy, right knee pain
#1 written by promark420 March 3rd, 2011 at 07:12
I pulled my multifidus near my coccyx about a year ago. It was one of the most painful things I’ve ever felt in my life–and that includes the compound fracture on my left foot. I was literally bedridden for 5 days and basically unable to do many strenuous exercises for at least a month. I know what you mean about the flexion and pigeon poses. They suck with a bad multifidus. The best feeling for my back then was to sit very upright or on the toilet.
It’s funny how the body works. Repeat injury issues are sometimes kind of tricky because logic says if one thing is wrong, you should treat the one thing. However, it’s usually a series of things causing the one thing to go wrong. Diagnosing the true cause is often the hardest thing to do.
As for healthy feet, I have a massive (though not blue) vein across the top of my left foot–yes, the bad one. My right foot also has a few of them. I guess there’s your sexism card. I also “blame” the VFFs 🙂
Good luck with everything.
-Bryan.