A lot has happened since I last posted. I’ve continued my twice-a-week sessions with my therapist, Katie, and now have significant improvement in how my hip functions. My gait is greatly improved, especially within the last couple of weeks. I am putting weight on my surgery leg normally and can feel more strength in my quad muscles going up and down steps. Katie hasn’t needed to do the traction to keep my hip joint in the proper position and rarely needs to use the therapy gun on the muscles. Each visit she checks to see if there are any pressure points in my glutes and quads that need a release, but honestly there isn’t much. She’s also changed my exercises to focus more on balance as well as strength.
I had an MRI on my lower back in late April. It revealed that I had some pretty significant degeneration in my lower spine. Some discs were moderate, but others were advanced. Since my hip is functioning better, my focus has switched to my back pain and weakness. It does impact my gait still. The pain and weakness are primarily on the right (surgery) side. Katie has told me that at the beginning, my entire body was twisted somewhat and she’s been working to get me straightened back in proper alignment. Like the hip muscles, there have been improvements, but I’m not there yet.
After the MRI, my GP recommended I go to a pain management specialist. I was really hesitant because my experiences with pain management specialists has just been okay years ago when my husband was having problems. Either there was no result or they tended to push shots and prescription meds and not work on the problem. But, I decided to go so that I could have the benefit of a professional analysis of the radiology report.
Was I ever glad I went! I saw a very knowledgeable Nurse Practitioner who explained everything on the report. She advised me not to worry too much about the documentation of deterioration in the discs, saying that most people my age have that. It sometimes can be a source of pain, but not always. Lots of her patients have had worse spines than mine and no pain (proof of the power of strong muscles being able to compensate for the aging spine). She had me lie on a bed and do a bunch of different movements with my back and surgery leg. None of this hurt. Then she had me lie on my tummy and she did some probing in the lower spine area. Wow, did she ever find some spots with significant pain! There were two spots she pushed on my lower right side that hurt! Then she had me return to my seat and gave me the diagnosis - no problems with the spine from the degeneration, no facet issues, but instead the problem is in the sacroiliac joint. She felt there was some misalignment and irritation to the ligaments that had occurred from all the months of poor walking I had been doing. She believed the SI ligaments were probably inflamed. We discussed all the possible treatments available and she agreed with me that the most conservative things of anti-inflammatory meds and therapy with Katie would be best.
So, I’ll be taking 100mg of Celebrex twice a day for 10 days, then dropping it to once a day until things are resolved. I have a new order for therapy with Katie that started yesterday where she will be working on the sacrum as well as finishing up with my hip muscles. She did some manipulation of the sacrum, telling me it was actually slightly twisted. Her goal was going to be to coax it back into a straightened position again. This will be a process much like what she did with my hip joint. And when I stood up, my back felt looser and walking was easier too. This is amazing to me! I’ve always had some issues with my lower back and now I’m wondering if this problem with the sacrum has been there for a long time. Nevertheless, I feel very hopeful that this too will be resolved and I will be a new woman!
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