Twists and turns

It's been a few years since I saw my chiropractor.  Well, that's a lie, it's been more than 10 years.  There are days when I could really use a good adjustment, and I've thought a lot about getting back in there, I just haven't pulled the trigger.  The last time I went it was for a shoulder injury after a poor play in the outfield in softball.  There's nothing like looking in the mirror and seeing one shoulder laying lower than the other, and realizing that the collision you had with the center fielder really knocked you out of whack.

So the chiropractor told me back then that my neck was curved like an "S" rather than a "C", and that my hips were turned wrong.  I guess he noticed one side of my pelvis tilted back in the x-ray.  He did some adjustments for both, and when my insurance stopped covering, I stopped going.  Life happens, right?

So years have gone by, I've gotten married, had two kids, and, most recently, started running.  A lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same.  One of those things that stayed the same is my pelvic tilt.  Sounds like a pinball game, doesn't it?  In all seriousness, though, I have a misaligned, tilted pelvis.  What was previously diagnosed, vaguely, as adductor tendinitis, is not anywhere, anyhow, any way related to the adductor, it's all in the hip.  I got a second opinion last night, and I couldn't be happier that I did.

This new PT asked a zillion questions, did a zillion manipulations and resistance tests of both my legs, and did a zillion things that the ortho and previous PT hadn't done.  After comparing the locations of this thumbs as he held my ankles when I sat on the table, and seeing how uneven they were, he confirmed that this was no groin injury.  We were looking a joint injury right in the....well, joint.

Apparently, this is how
twisted *I* am

When my parents got me my first pair of roller skates, my dad tried to teach me how to skate backward.  I tried with all my might to do it, but I couldn't rotate my right leg the way I needed to.  Same problem when my grandfather tried to teach me skating backward on my inline skates.  I could never do the butterfly stroke, I couldn't kick my leg out to the side.  Now that I have this diagnosis, it all makes sense. 

Let me just say that when your right pelvis is tilted backward, it can lead to some serious pain if you do the wrong exercises.  Last week in core class I had a horrible time doing this one exercise where we started laying down and used a weight to help propel our body to a standing position.  I knew I shouldn't have done the exercise, but, kept on until I knew my hip could take no more.  And there you have it.  My twisted pelvis can't do that!

He told me last night that I should definitely stay away from that kind of work, and focus, instead, on the exercises he gives me to do at home, and the work I'll do in my twice weekly visits to PT  I need to stretch my hamstrings and quads, because they have done more than their share of work to help me stay upright with the pelvic tilt (are you sure we're not talking pinball?).  They have suffered long enough.

The mental lift I got from this was amazing.  I was walking taller physically and mentally.  I could seriously see myself running again, something I have been losing sight of gradually over the last couple of weeks.  Lifting my spirits helped me walk taller and happier. 

I am now officially on the road to recovery. I have an official diagnosis, a real one, one that has a solid treatment.  I have a game plan.  I have hope!

I believe this calls for a celebratory glass of wine.  Won't you join me?