Lateral Knee Pain

Knock-ons

 

Good, left leg

 

Over the years, my good, left leg has been doing most of the work of both legs. Now my left knee and small toes get sharp pains in them, which I guess are the start of arthritis, and my ankle swells up far more than my bad, right ankle. After most of a day at the Olympics in Summer 2012, my good, left ankle was the size of my thigh. This was very worrying because I cannot rely on my bad, right leg at all.

 

With current physiotherapy exercises, I have noticed that when doing squats against the wall, my good, left leg is doing most of the work. When I tried to put more of a fair share of weight onto my bad, right leg, I had eminence lateral knee pain in right knee, so had to stop... and am also getting more and more painful areas in my good, left knee!

 

 

Big toenail damaged on bad, right foot

 

As I cannot lift my left leg up far enough to ensure that my foot clears all obstacles, I have been knocking it on objects, for example, uneven paving stones and stairs. This continuous knocking has damaged my big toenail. It looked unusual to me, so I asked a GP if it might be a fungal nail infection. She sent nail clippings for analysis and found no infections of any kind. So it must be attributed to knocking my toe as a result of not lifting my foot up far enough to clear all objects.

 

I did in fact trip over a raised kerbstone and landed with a thud on my left knee about 6 months after the injury. This bled a bit and created a scar, but doesn't seem to have caused any further issues.

 

 

Left hand problems

 

My left hand has had Trigger Finger in the index finger for about 10 years, but now it is also developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The thumb and index finger get numb and itchy to the extent that they feel like they will burst open. However I think that I have discovered the cause as described by http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Carpal-tunnel-syndrome/Pages/Causes.aspx:

 

Certain activities may trigger the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. These tend to involve strenuous grip, repetitive wrist flexion...

 

I have had trouble getting up and down the stairs of my house. Going up is hard work and I tend to lean forwards so that if I do fall, then I will not have so far to fall. I use the stair rail with my right hand. But going down stairs is much more difficult. I have been clinging on to the rail very tightly with my left hand and I think that it is this that is maybe causing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. In just a couple of days of not holding onto the rail in such a tight fashion, only the tips of my thumb and index finger tingle slightly. This is good news for my hand, but I shall have to sort out another rail because going down stairs is very scarey with a leg that I cannot rely on.

 

Nevertheless, along with the stair rail, I have also noticed other activities that will now bring on the same condition:

• opening and closing screw-top bottles,

• turning on and off taps,

• typing on my PC keyboard.

I can keep these to a minimal, and have found that stretching out my hand and wriggling my fingers and wrist will relieve the major discomfort.

 

However, a visit to my local hospital physiotherapy department suggested that this was probably arthritis as opposed to carpal tunnel syndrome...

 

And just recently I am wondering whether this is starting on my right, good hand now as I am sometimes getting the same feeling in the tips of my long and ring fingers. This is probably as result of doing more of the work that I would previously have conducted with my incapacitated, bad, left hand.

 

 

Increase in weight

 

For most of my adult life I have weighed about 7½ stone. Although I didn't exercise as such, I was always active with 2 active jobs and a child. My weight did increase to about 9 stone after my hysterectomy. This was due to a change in diet. The GP who I was seeing at the time had put me on alendronic acid tablets to try and waylay Osteoporosis. I was under the impression that I had to keep a good amount of calcium in my body if the tablets were to work. So I was eating all sorts of dairy products. When I stopped taking the tablets and eating so much, my weight went down to about 8 stone, which I was quite happy with.

 

Now, however, after an almost inactive lifestyle for the last few years as I cannot do much, my weight has increased to around 11 stone. Heartbroken!

 

 

Minimal activity

 

Although I had no physical issues with my leg immediately after the injury, pain, and what I call 'gross discomfort' increased slowly in the whole of my bad, right leg.

 

As the GP who I was seeing at the time, on hearing about the jogging injury, advised 'That's the trouble with jogging... never mind, walking is good', I would walk to the town and back until this became too painful, not necessarily whilst walking, but more so the next day or 2 afterwards. There were days when I could walk, or even catch a bus somewhere, but then would be almost far too incapacitated to get home. I remember one day people were stopping me in the street on the last stretch homeward to see if I was OK...

 

So I would reduce the walking, and go to the local shops instead. And when this became to much, I started ordering my food online.

 

 

Poor diet

 

Online shopping at Sainsburys is a lifesaver, but there are issues when buying fresh fruit and vegetables. 

 

I am very picky, and was nearly always unhappy with the standard of fresh produce, particularly fruit. Whereas some jacket potatoes were OK, bananas were always bruised. So I tend to buy tinned stuff because that is always edible. I used to walk to the local shops and buy just the fresh foods and milk but as my leg got worse I couldn't cope with that either.

 

I keep saying that as soon as my leg is sorted, I shall still shop online for all the big, heavy things, but will start walking to the local shops again for fresh foods.

 

 

High blood pressure

 

Apparently I have had high blood pressure for a while. I had had it tested when I changed to a different GP practice and was told it was OK.

 

However a locum GP suggested testing it before I went for my pre-assessment appointment for my arthroscopy procedure at the hospital. I was quite surprised to see that it was high, 180. It was thought that this might be related to stress before my daughter's wedding so they gave me a 4 week course of 10 mg Amlopodine tablets to help reduce it. After the wedding and before the arthroscopy it had come down to 150, and to 137 on ending the course of tablets.

 

At my 6 month check to see what was happening with it, it had gone up again to 150, so I had some more tablets.

 

Well... how stupid did I feel...?! Another GP asked why I hadn't had any tablets for some months... I was told to have my blood pressure checked every 6 months, but not that I had to keep taking these tablets now for the rest of my life... I have now been put on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 2.5mg to how how these may help. I need to go back to the GP again now... but it's NYE...

 

I am monitoring my blood pressure at home, mornings and afternoons, to see if there is a pattern. It does seem to be usually lower in the mornings. I would guess that having to lug my bad, right leg around all the time does not help the problem.

 

I've just read this:

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-06-blood-pressure-medications.html

The way to curb the problem, Howard says, is to prevent hypertension in the first place. There are a number of proven approaches to prevent or greatly delay the development of hypertension including: 1) taking part in moderate physical activity, 2) keeping weight in normal rages, 3) reducing salt intake, and 4) eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and reduced in saturated and total fat.

 

Too late for me then, I guess...!!!

 

 

High cholesterol

 

My cholesterol level is high.

 

I am a tad disappointed because I have been using Flora ProActiv spread for years, since they brought it out. It might be however that I don't use enough of it. I always spread it thinly on bread because of the cost, and taste, but I do add a good dolup to jacket potatoes.

 

I also keep an eye on the amount of salt in the products that I use, and suspect that I am quite near the limit.

 

 

Back pain

 

I have had some pain in my back when engaging in activities that require bending, like filling my dishwasher. However, I am recently finding that some physiotherapy exercises for strengthening my gluts are resulting in servere back pain. This will likely last a day, but be gone in the morning.

 

Other activities, like standing at the sink to do a large pile of washing up, are now beginning to cause servere back pain such that I cannot get to sleep at night, so I have been taking 2x 30mg co-coxxxxxxx ( and doing the washing up more frequently!)

 

Lastest MRI shows Osteoporosis in my Lumbar spine. Low bone density tests locally had shown problems with Lumbar spine, and osteopenia in my left (good) hip.