what happened to me

[Belle616]

I am an enigma.  It all started when I twisted my knee when a strong wave knocked me down in the ocean.  The MRI showed a strained retinculum tendon of left knee.  I also had tightness in the back and side of knee but wore a knee brace.  Also my foot was and is still very tight under the arch.   This caused me to walk differently ....more on the inside of my foot.   Fast forward to 3 months later.   MRI shows my knee is healed but still have tightness and when I keep my knee bent a pulling sensations goes up into my lower back.   Now my lower back and hips kill me all the time when i walk.   I can walk less now (41/2 months later) than I could when the accident first happened.  Also the muscles in my back seem to be pulling .   It is hard to hold my head up at times.   Sometimes my hands go numb and I can feel a pulling down my left arm.  Also my right knee (my good knee)  the muscles have compensated to start acting just like the other knee.   tightness on the inside pulling my knee to pull inward.  This has really affected my gait.   I can't walk now without being in pain.   Knee doctor wants nothing to do with me he says I am healed.  I went to back therapy and they pulled on my legs which is when the other knee started compensating.  I need a wheelchair to walk any long distance.   I am only 52 years old with young children to care for.   I know all these symptoms seem a little much but it all seems to be coming from the tightness in my left knee which did not show up on the MRI as far as I know.  Could this be the Psoas muscle????   I am very depressed over this as before I walked pain free.   Oh my xrays of lower back showed arthritis in the middle and right side and it was my left side that was hurting at first.   now it hurts all the way across as I am not walking much.    PLEASE CAN SOMEBODY OFFER ME SOME HELP???????

[cali_lily]

I highly suggest visiting a REPUTABLE chiropractor in your area.  Make sure they take x-rays and EXPLAIN the results to you.  In the meantime, try going to a chiropractic website and reviewing the info there.  When you have an injury that pulls joints/muscles/vertebrae out of place it can pinch off nerves, cause extreme muscle tightness, affect circulation, etc...  A course of chiropractic care might be just the thing you need to feel great again!!

[ggreg]

Yeah, I had a similar situation.  I have a bad back from a car wreck a long time ago.  Well, I fell down in the driveway and wound up with an air cast for my foot.  I limped for many months and it never healed right.  Next thing I know, my lower back started hurting big-time and I had other wierd nerve type symptoms.  I finally realized after consulting with a neurologist that, when I was limping all the time, it made my old back injury worse, because I was leaning to one side to compensate.

You can have a CAT scan done of your back, it's less costly and less involved than an MRI, and it might show if it's goofed up somehow.  Sometimes physical therapy can help, sometimes you need medication to kill the pain, there are a couple good nerve pain medicines like Neurontin and Lyrica, which I take the latter, and it takes care of my back now.  As for my goofed-up foot, I can't help but limp, but I do wear a support bandage sometimes and support shoes when I have to do a lot of walking.  I also had to tighten up my tummy muscles as physical therapy, to hold by my back steady.  And occasionally I will use a cane, to help keep the pressure off that foot.