|
June 1, 2014
Odd Experience
Hi ,
I
had an odd experience the other day - at least odd for me. I deal with
this in patients, but this is the first time I have experienced it in
my own body. I am talking about a referred pain syndrome.
About
three weeks ago I started noticing a pain in my right knee. I would
rub the area just under the kneecap by the shinbone and it would be very
tender. I figured I had strained the attachment of either the muscle
along the shin or possibly the muscle that attaches in that same area
that runs up the side of the thigh. I massaged it for a couple days,
but it just got worse.
I
decided it was time to get serious and pull out the Activator adjusting
tool and give the knee a once over. This went on for several more days
with me adjusting and massaging. I even got out the ultrasound to
knock down inflammation...nothing.
By
now the pain was running down my shin and starting up my thigh. It was
interfering with my
ability to walk. But mostly it hurt whenever I sat down. Any pressure
on the back of my thigh from the chair and I would get stabbing pains
in my leg. This was getting pretty weird. It was not responding to
treatment or therapy and the worst pain was when I sat with no pressure
on the knee joint. I am now two weeks into this rather unpleasant pain
pattern.
At
this point I went back to basic neurology to try to figure out what was
going on. The pain pathway was right along the boarder of the two
major nerves in the leg - the sciatic and the femoral nerves. That
might
mean I had a pelvic rotation affecting these nerves, but when I tested
this out, nothing showed up. Besides, irritation of these nerves
usually starts at the top and works down the leg. It doesn't start in
the middle of the leg.
Just
to be thorough, I checked out the lumbar spine. I had no back pain and
no restriction of movement, so I figured I would find nothing. But to
my surprise both the fifth and the fourth lumbar vertebra were testing
pinching down on the right. This could cause the pain I was having, but
there was no local pain in the lumbar region. As I mentioned,
classically,
pain starts at the spine and works its way down the extremity. But I
had no pain at the spine.
I
adjusted the area anyway - just in case it was involved somehow. Low
and behold a couple hours later the pain was less in the leg. I
adjusted it again the next day the pain reduced even further. I gave it
a third adjustment a day later and really dug in to affect the deep
soft tissues and by the next day the leg and knee pain were gone. It was like magic to me because my understanding of how the nerves worked
didn't explain how the pain skipped over the back and upper leg and just
appeared in the knee. Its not supposed to work that way.
This
is the stuff old school Chiropractic was all about. Whatever is going
on in the body, the first place you address is the nerves that control
that area at the spine. I might have had an unnoticed injury just to
the knee, in which case the corrections I made to the knee would have
helped. But even then I should have addressed the spinal area that
feeds the knee. Because even with a local injury to just the knee, I
still want to clear the communication to the muscles, ligaments, blood
vessels, and other tissues in that area
to speed the healing.
This
is usually not an issue when I work with patients, because I work over
the whole body and always check the entire spine in detail. But with
myself, I was short cutting and just attending to the area that hurt.
Normally I trade with another Chiropractor each week to make sure my
spine is all aligned, but my regular trading doctor has been out of
commission with electrical trouble with his heart. So I have not been
getting my weekly tune-ups.
So
for me this little knee pain episode served as a reaffirmation of the
basic principles of Chiropractic. It also highlighted how just because
there is no pain in the spine, it does not mean that there is not a
problem in the spine that might be causing trouble elsewhere in my
body. It reaffirms my precaution of getting a regular tune up every
week just to keep things running smoothly - particularly now that I have
turned 60. My feeling now is that tune-ups twice a year are
appropriate for folks in their 20's and 30's, four times a year for
folks in their 40's and 50's, and monthly for those of us 60 and over,
even if we have no symptoms. As we age our vital reserves diminish and
our
resilience decreases. We have to watch our diet more closely, be more
religious with our exercise, get regular sleep, and keep ourselves tuned
up.
Take care,
David
Ellen Update
5/27 As is often the case with medical conditions the remedy can be worse than the condition. Last weekend Ellen was having a difficult time breathing. Her oxygen levels in her blood were dropping to where she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The IV fluids they had been dripping into Ellen overloaded her ability to remove them and her lungs started to fill with water. Blood clots were found in her lungs when they did a CT scan. They started her on blood thinners and medication to drain the excess water out of her. Some of these complications are simply due to being stuck in a horizontal position for so long in bed after the surgery. They try to get her up to walk several times a day but blood still pools in her legs and form clots that will travel to the lungs. We are hoping they get her blood thinners balanced by this weekend so we can spring her from the hospital.
5/31 - Ellen decided she had enough of the hospital and asked to be released Friday. I went down to get her Friday night but by the time I got there she had spiked a fever so they insisted on keeping her to do more tests and put her on more powerful antibiotics. By Saturday morning she was better and I was able to retrieve her Saturday afternoon. She will have to inject herself with blood thinners for the next 10 days at home and we will be getting lab work done Monday morning to monitor this process - but at least she is home now.
Ultrasound Physical Therapy
Now available in the office
Tuesday afternoons and Fridays
| 
