In March 2012 I developed a case of plantar fasciitis. This is where you have sharp pain in the heel of your foot. Of course, mine is in the left foot, which is the side of my broken leg. There are plenty of self-help tips and videos on the internet so I did my homework and did everything to try to facilitate my recovery from this painful injury.
Things didn't seem to be improving, or more accurately, I was having good days and not so good days. The pain in the foot became so bad that I gave up almost all physical activity. Especially walking, which is my favorite thing to do.
Towards the end of May (near my 2 year anniversary) I really panicked because I was now getting knee pain. The knee would swell and hurt. This was definitely not good. I could deal with heel pain, but new knee pain was something I had to get checked out.
I went to my GP and he sent me for xrays. The xrays said that I had arthritis in my knee. Holy smoke, this was devastating news. I knew that "knee" and "arthritis" in the same sentence is so NOT good for the active lifestyle I want. I think every person that has a TPF has extreme anxiety about this. My GP then sent me to the podiatrist who gave me a pep talk about everything I already knew about plantar faciitis. I asked him if my knee problems were related to my heel pain and he answered, "it's possible". Not very helpful. But he was a nice man.
I was in denial about "knee" and "arthritis" for a few weeks and then made the call to my orthopedic surgeon for an appointment. If I had arthritis I wanted to know how bad it was and what I could expect. It took me 3 weeks to get an open appointment.
My OS has always been a very personable woman and she and I have good rapport. She didn't see my xrays ahead of the appointment was was prepared for the worse when I told her what had happened to me. So she pulls the xray up on the computer and stared for a good few minutes. She said she couldn't find arthritis on my knee. She showed me the holes where my screws were, where my break was, where the plateau was smooth but no arthritis. I immediately felt like a giant weight went off my shoulders. I trust her 100% since she has been my doctor throughout my whole ordeal.
Now the only problem was, what was causing my knee pain? She seemed pretty puzzled until she had me flex both legs and she told me immediately that the right leg was way stronger than the left and that was probably the cause of my problem. She have me a referral for physical therapy and wished me well.
We stopped by the PT area on our way out to get an appointment. The nice lady at the desk said she had a cancellation and I could be seen in 45 minutes. I didn't want to wait and she told me that the soonest she could get me in would be 2 weeks. Okay, I'll take today's appointment.
After doing a series of exercises to show the strength of my legs, my PT gave me a set of exercises to go at home. He said that yes, my left leg was significantly weaker than my right. Sigh.
Two weeks later the knee is feeling better. The swelling is pretty much done. I still have some pain with my foot and I'll be going to the podiatrist tomorrow for some help with that issue.
Bottom line: Keep your muscles strong around the knee, especially the quads! I'm glad that my problem wasn't with arthritis, thank goodness!
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