Ankle weirdness
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As mentioned in my Fatbastarding Log, I've got this weird thing happening with my left ankle. Before we get started, try this:<br />
- Stand on your right foot only. Now lift up onto the ball of your foot like you're going up on tiptoes. Shouldn't be an issue.<br />
- Try the same with your left foot. Easy right? Well, not for me any more. <br />
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My left foot simply WON'T lift my (considerable) weight up onto the ball of my foot. Its not really painful or anything - though there is a bit of angst in the muscles behind my ankle - its like the Achilles is on strike and won't respond to threats. You can see my toes scrabbling madly to get grip on the carpet or some other kind of reflex too.<br />
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If I try to do both feet at once, no problem - it doesn't feel like my right foot is taking all the weight either. But if I get up on the balls of my feet, then take my right foot off the ground - bang. The left ankle just lets go.<br />
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Its bloody annoying. Because I have to walk like a limpy bastard, it puts more strain on the other parts of my body for compensation, which long-term isn't good. The physio says its behaving oddly and that while I'm not banned from training or playing, he's concerned that it may in fact be nerve damage. He also doesn't seem to think its a tendon strength issue as both feet responded fairly equally in the tests he was doing, though I was lying down doing those...<br />
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So could it just be nerves like he says? It might be that when standing certain skeleto-muscular alignments of the body are shutting off particular nerves, though that's my own theory. Besides making me look like I'm hobbling in pain on the rugby field, its not really handicapping me either (my fat arse is handicap enough).<br />
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Anyone got advice or similar experiences?
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Physio basically manipulated both my feet in their natural directions, got me to push against his hands at various angles, and checked the musculature around the ankle, calf, and shin. He said there didn't appear to be anything structurally awry, though I did have a fair bit of tension in those little muscles just above the ankle. He then proceeded to "release" those muscles on my left foot - which is a synonym for dig his thumb in about 3 inches beside my shin and put me into utter fucking agony. His theory being they're really tense, so perhaps releasing them (they hook into the tendons in the arch of your foot would help.<br />
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He says if nothing improves after Friday's session that I should go to the Doctor for some kind of nerve testing. In the meantime my health fund covers most of the visit so I'm not too worried about getting ripped off.<br />
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He has strapped the left ankle under the arch for some support there, and it is helping a little (though I'll know more once I walk home from the train station tonight), so I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience.<br />
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The only thing I can think of is e.g. Cliffy Palu with his shoulder - they say its nerve damage and that he can't lift his arm above his head. Maybe mine is similar - I get a bit of movement but can't do much in the way of strength. I hasten to add that lifting 115kg on one foot is no mean effort, but it doesn't help you when you have to push one side of a scrum and can't get your heel into the drive :nta -
yeah, I could imagine the problem you're having would pretty seriously affect your game in areas such as driving strength, acceleration, mobility, body height, etc. Maybe none of these were very good to start with, so nobody notices?Â
Nah, just jokes mate, it does sound like a nerve issue, but I'm no medico. I'd be getting a doctor and/or specialist to look at it. :nta -
I have something similar in both legs, but it didn't happen quickly. Are you saying one week you could do that fine, and then the next week you couldn't?<br />
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If so, definitely go see a doctor.<br />
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If it's something you have just noticed, you can fix it with more physio. I went from not being able to do the one foot lift, to doing reps of 30 in about six weeks. If you leave it you will end up with dodgy shins like me - and I still can't run properly.<br />
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That release thing is fun huh, try six weeks of it. <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> -
Thanks for the info Kirwan - I think
That guy was harsh with the release thing. I've Bowen Therapy before and it involves nerve stimulation but on a much lighter scale!<br />
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Its not been an instant thing, I definitely haven't had anything snap. In part I think its due to training at night without adequate covering for my calves - I get really tight calves in cold air, and playing prop at opposed scrummaging probably didn't help. So its kind of crept up on me, disguised as calf cramps that could have affected the way I walk, and hence led to things not being in order. :nta Actually, going back to the Bowen thing - the lady I was seeing did wonders releasing those cramps and soreness...<br />
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I've also been having numbness in the buttocks and groin, but just put that down to an office job. Perhaps its all related to rugby... -
OK, it's starting to sound more similar to what I had. I started running again and hammered it, and ended up with really tight calfs.<br />
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What was happening was my calfs were compensating for the weaker musles (the ones that raise you off up on one foot that aren't working for you right now). Then my shins started suffering as well and I got close to stress fractures and had a tonne of swelling on the front of my shins. I'm too stupid to stop running if it's a bit sore.<br />
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Some physio to address the weakness basically sorted my calfs out (much smaller now too), and the swelling and I no longer have weakness.<br />
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If you have any numbess though, get to a doc smartly. -
Well, my shins haven't started to hurt yet, but that is a tale of woe I wish to avoid.<br />
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Had the numbness checked out a couple of weeks back (was genital as well, so naturally I was scared shitless) - lumbar spinal x-ray showed no masses threatening to bind me to a wheelchair for life, but a second opinion couldn't hurt... or a CT scan. :nta<br />
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Thanks for the advice Kirwan. You too Oirish. -
Specifically, MRI or CT to check for nerve root compression. There may be no bony bodies, spicules or osteophytes, but we all of us have degenerative changes in the L4/L5/S1 area, and it wouldn't do any harm. Mention it to the quack, see if there's any follow-up recommended.
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[quote name='Kirwan']<br />
Get a firm diagnosis before you stop with the docs, numbness ain't to be treated lightly. Go to a specialist.<br />
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Defo, i haev been out with an ankle problem for 6 months now and have a specialist appointment tomorrow morning. A real fucker of a place to pick up an injury because it is so hard to reast without taking time off work etc... -
As I read the earlier posts from NTA I was thinking it sounds like Bell's Palsy............but in the foot not the face....which is a virus I hear that gets in the nerve.I developed a dose of Bell's in my mid 30's that luckily only lasted a week. I had been inside a warm house on a cold Winters night and rather than brave the chill outside for a ciggy in the wee small hours I opended a windwo and blew the smoke out. I stayed at the window for awahile, watching the mist etc and a day later woke with the numb and lifeless thing happening on the left side. You mentioned having trained in the cold and exposing the lower limbs to the cold..........?
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<img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> You're a scary lass for bringing up such things! Still, stranger things have happened - Steve Kefu got Bells Palsy a couple of years back, and he was much younger than I!<br />
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[quote name='Fullermorg']<br />
Defo, i haev been out with an ankle problem for 6 months now and have a specialist appointment tomorrow morning. A real fucker of a place to pick up an injury because it is so hard to reast without taking time off work etc...<br />
[/quote]<br />
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As I said to the physio - its not like you can just put the fucker in a sling... Crutches suck. -
Yes, scary fitsÂ
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Speaking of which.......... I was scared to death today...went to hospital yesterday for a day procedure (womens business) which was an event in itself............only to be told just before they trolleyed me into theatre that the blood tests had revealed a genetic blood thing .I'm missing some sort of element which means my bloods clots and so am prone to deep vein thrombosis. I've had two clots so far, one after childbirth and the 2nd after watching 5 hours of rugby when I had the flu so didnt get off the couch at all a few Saturdays ago..I think it was the afternoon that began with AB's v France, then onto Aussie's playing some one and finally SA playing the Poms.<br />
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Anyways,came home from hospital wearing very unsexy support hose and a bag containing 10 syringes of some drug I have to inject myself with so was shown how to do this today at the docs, I was petrified. <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />.......I don't know how diabetics do this to themselves every day, let alone junkies.............who wouldchoose to inject themselves if they didn't have to ?????????????<br />
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Mind you, just as well I have ample tummy fat as it'd be damn painful if I had abs.Never thought there would be a positive slant to being fat :happy: -
Had another physio session on Friday, and he strapped the ankle while I was there. Again, he emphasised it was a weird one.<br />
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On the walk down to the train this morning I started to get sharp pains on the inside of my left heel, and thought it was my heel splitting (it felt like getting a needle driven into the bottom of my foot). But no obvious signs of distress, so I thought it must have been referred pain of some kind.<br />
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Got the same at work when I went to the loo just now. Again, took the shoe off and found no cracking, or trauma of any kind.<br />
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But I tested the ankle and have found some strength back in it. This is really weird. I can now make the heel get just off the ground from a flat start, and can actually hold the heel off the ground if I go from a raised position. Interesting :nta -
Could there be the possibility that a pissed off ex has a wax effigy of you along with some of your hair and is doing some weird shit with it ?
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<img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> That'd be going back about 10 years to get hold of an ex, so probably not. Maybe its the really hot chick at work who secretly desires me and wants to massage me back to health :nta<br />
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:2funny: I crack me up.... -
Maybe your Mrs has sussed out the hot chick at work and it is she who is doing the voodoo thing ? <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />
