Happy Feet...Kinda

Some of you have watched the saga of me getting older and my body essentially punching me repeatedly in the face. My hip has issues. My feet have issues. My doctor constantly tells me I am too young to be in his office as often as I am (currently, I am still visiting him weekly for hip and foot issues, where he also gives me B12 shots to help with healing). Today is an update about my new adventures with the Graston Technique on my left foot (right foot had surgery in 2013).  It took about a year for my right foot to stop hurting post-surgery. On top of all of this BS, my right foot has once again started hurting (so I only got about four or five months pain-free with that foot). I guess when you mess with your alignment, it can cause other issues.

So the left hip started randomly giving me trouble about five years ago (no injury to blame it on). I saw Keith and he got me back into a place where I could live relatively pain-free. After starting that new job in San Francisco in 2012, and going from wearing flip flops every day to real shoes, my right foot started really hurting. After having surgery and limping around in a moon boot for awhile, my left hip flared up again but I just kind of ignored it. My doctor warned me if I didn't take care of it, I would develop arthritis, and he started performing myofascial release on that hip this year. It has been life-changing. (We don't even have to mention how my little fall in Vegas put me back months and I'm still paying the price for that with my tight toes.) Something my doctor mentioned at one visit was how the tightness in my foot was related to my tight calves. Interestingly enough, I had just started having the Graston technique performed on my foot and calf the same week my doctor mentioned this.

I am about six weeks in to having the Graston technique performed on my foot (about once a week, although the holidays have made that a little difficult) and I really do feel like it is making a difference in the pain in my feet. The actual technique can be kind of painful. I have these crazy knots in my calves. I have always felt like my muscles practically melted after gastric bypass. Losing weight that quickly just destroys your body. My theory is that when the muscles started coming back, they fused in weird ways. When I used to get Charlie horses in my calf, it would be the back of the leg. After gastric bypass, Charlie horses moved into this place in between my muscles, which was completely unreachable and never could be rubbed out.

Although I am certainly not yet cured of foot pain, on the weeks I have Angela work on me, I am in significantly less pain than on the weeks I haven't been able to make it in. I am continuing with my yoga in order to keep myself somewhat stretched out. I am also using the Bledsoe brace on my left foot to keep pressure on the fascia. It is frustrating to be going through this on my other foot, but I really do hope that, if I keep up the Graston visits, I may be able to avoid future surgery on that foot.

Got any tricks for foot pain? I'm open to trying almost anything! I have been throwing around the idea of trying acupuncture. That should be fun...I really love needles. Not.

Bone spurs on the right foot. The left foot has similar, although smaller, spurs

Awesome bruise after a Graston visit

Myofascial Release Update

This week, I had the 18th round of myofascial release done on my hip.  It is so crazy.  The knots move around.  Some days, it is right in the middle of my hip socket.  Some days, it's my butt.  Some days, it's my inner thigh.  All days...treatment is painful!  I started this adventure two months ago.  You can read that first blog about it HERE.  My doctor is intent on pinning the pain to an old injury.  I had a bike accident when I was maybe 10 or 12.  Two bikes and my cousin ended up heaped on me.  I can't remember if I fell on my left side though.  I had a snow skiing accident around age 13, which resulted in a broken left collarbone.  Maybe when I flipped over, I hit my hip.  My shoulder hurt so bad, I don't remember anything else hurting.  I also use my left leg to mount horses.  Maybe years of hauling all that weight up did some damage.  Then maybe the plastic surgeries and resulting scar tissue added to it.  Who knows?! 

I am happy to report that the therapy is working!  My pain levels are often only 2 out of 10 on most days (down from 5 or 6 most days, which is even further down from 8 or 9 before Keith got ahold of me).  I still can't figure out what makes it spike.  Does dancing?  Some days.  Does yoga?  Some days.  Does doing nothing?  Some days.  There's never any rhyme or reason.  We recently moved from two treatments per week to one.  I think it was difficult to figure out if it was working since muscle soreness would set in a couple of days after the treatment, and I was going in for the next appointment with a day or two after that.  I have noticed a big difference in how I feel now that my body has enough time to heal from the previous appointment. 

If you aren't sure what fascia is...read THIS article!  "Fascia is a web of fibrous tissue that permeates the body, but is it really the "Cinderella Tissue" that new age therapists, Rolfers, and yoga instructors suggest? The fascial system is still a medical mystery."  I kind of think of it as a net that holds all my meat to my bones. 



Why WOULDN'T I do this move?!

The bruises I get from the treatment can often rival my pole dancing bruises.  My doctor just shakes his head and laughs when I come in and he says, "hey, *I* didn't cause *that* bruise!"  I proudly take out my phone and show him photos of me doing some pole move.  When I showed him my shoulder stand (which resulted in a pretty nice bruise across my entire shoulder), he said, "how long did you hold that??" (just long enough to take the photo).  Then he said, "why??" (uh, why not??).  He then sent me to get tested for anemia again.  He doesn't understand why I do these funny poses on the pole but he has a good sense of humor about my shenanigans.  He also thinks it is hilarious that I come with a beach towel to put over the stupid paper covering the table.  As soon as the pain hits, I generally start sweating all over my body and then used to end up leaving with bits of tissue paper stuck to me.  Not anymore!

I am very appreciative that I have a primary care physician willing to do this kind of treatment on me.  I feel like he uses a mix of Western medicine with Chinese medicine.  I was so grumpy when my former doctor stopped accepting my insurance and I was randomly placed with this doctor.  What a blessing in disguise, though!

So, although it is painful, I am hopeful that enduring this now will mean I don't get arthritis in this hip later in life.  Have you ever tried myofascial release or rolfing?  I'd love to hear about your experiences! 

Myofascial Release and the Old Lady Hip

I recently wrote about how eventful my latest doctor's appointment had been.  You can read that post HERE.  One of my issues is what I call my "old lady hip."  My doctor had just moved my leg and immediately knew there was a problem.  I hurt it almost five years ago.  I wasn't an injury per se.  It just started feeling very sore. 

Most likely it coincided with me pole dancing, as it started just a couple of months after I started dancing.  I figured it was probably the pivoting barefoot on the floor that may have made me sore.  I now use dance paws.  Anyway, I went to a specialist years ago and they sent me for an MRI or whatever they do when they want to look at your tissue.  The idiot tech placed me in a way that left a good portion of my legs hanging off the tray.  Then he told me to hold my legs up and stay still.  For 25 minutes.  Shockingly, even with abs of steel, I shook a little and the MRI was unreadable.  The doctor didn't seem to think it was worth sending me for another one or digging further (other than offering pointless cortisone shots), so I just kind of learned to deal with the pain.

I was introduced to Keith Ortiz who does amazing bodywork.  You can read about him HERE.  He definitely helped relieve my pain and kept me walking.  There were certainly days when I thought I was donezo.  However, even when he used to offer a great discount to me, visits to Keith are expensive (worth every penny but still...if you don't have money, you don't have it).  So I wasn't visiting him as often as I should. 

Fast forward to now and my new primary care physician says that since the x-ray showed no arthritis in the hip, we needed to act quickly to make sure it didn't develop.  He says it is curable now, but won't be once arthritis sets in.  He tells me he can perform myofascial release on me.  He says it is veeeeeeeeeeery painful but will eventually cure me.  Oh, and I have to come to his office twice a week.  Well, since his co-pay is much lower than Keith's fee, his office is a mile away from me, and I can actually get my co-pay reimbursed through my health savings account, I kind of can't say no.  I mean, unless I want to let myself develop arthritis.  So, I say yes. 

What is myofascial release?  I will let the Mayo Clinic define it:

"Myofascial (mi-oh-FASH-al) release is a manual therapy technique often used in massage. The technique focuses on pain believed to arise from myofascial tissues — the tough membranes that wrap, connect and support your muscles. Theoretically, myofascial pain differs from other types of pain because it originates in 'trigger points,' which are related to stiff, anchored areas within the myofascia. The pain that a trigger point causes is often difficult to localize, though.

During myofascial release therapy, the therapist locates myofascial areas that feel stiff and fixed instead of elastic and movable under light manual pressure. These areas, though not always near what feels like the source of pain, are thought to restrict muscle and joint movements, contributing to widespread muscle pain. The focused manual pressure and stretching used in myofascial release therapy loosen up restricted movement, leading indirectly to reduced pain."

What does that mean in real life?  Think of an area of your body where you feel pain.  Doesn't have to be right this second.  Maybe you injured your knee once, or broke your arm once.  You remember how much it hurt, though, right?  Now think of pinching that area as hard as you can.  On and off for about 20 minutes.  That's myofascial release. 



Stretching alone isn't enough...

At my first appointment this week, my doctor warned me again that it would be painful.  I told him I had experienced it through my bodyworker so I knew what to expect.  And I dealt with the pain through loud yoga breathing and occasional exclamations about how this "wasn't my favorite!"  The whole time, in my head, I'm begging for it to stop.  I felt like I dealt with it pretty well though.  And at the end of the appointment, my doctor remarked that most of his patients scream during the procedure.  The receptionist said the same thing on my way out.  It was kinda funny.  I go back for Round 2 tomorrow.  Yay?
I have always wondered if all the scar tissue from my lower body lift has contributed to this issue.  The left side of my hip is "thicker" than the right side so I feel like it makes sense that there might be more scar tissue and those little scar fingers have been reaching out and grabbing at my hip socket.  I actually spoke to someone about this issue recently and have an upcoming blog about scar tissue and muscles.  But it makes sense to me. 

Anyway, I am willing to put up with the pain if it fixes the long term problem.  Since seeing Keith, I have certainly been in less pain, but have never been able to go to him often enough to be truly pain-free.  The stretches my doctor gave me to do every night alone have taken my pain down a couple of notches already.  Has anyone ever tried myofascial release?  I'd love to hear about your experiences!