Post Stroke Mumblings — Part 17
Falling Down is Easy…
I had a T.I.A. stroke in June 2023. I have recovered about 90 percent, but am still working on it, and most recently a new issue has cropped up to hinder recovery. I have developed Piriformis syndrome.
One of the stroke issues is that my left side was, and is weakened, meaning that I have to rely more on my right side, which means that everything on the right side is taking a beating. Including the hip and the knee and the neck and shoulder on the right side, all of which are supported by the Piriformis muscle.
(The main item causing trouble for me is the Piriformis muscle. See a helpful article at this link)
Unfortunately, because the Piriformis muscle is involved with pretty much every movement one makes — standing, walking, sitting, bending over, reaching up, (I could go on …) and while the osteoarthritis in the hip and the worn-out knee are issues all by themselves, that one flaky Piriformis muscle became inflamed and is exacerbating everything, and causing excruciating pain — constantly.
So, over the past years, I have stressed the Piriformis over and over, but it never got as bad as it is now. I had plenty of early warnings (which I happily ignored) but kept right on stressing it, being unaware of the full implications.
I have now learned that I have Piriformis Syndrome. This condition is particularly tricky because of the contradictions. One needs to keep it active and flexed, but one must not overdo it.
This brings us to my current situation and how I got to being in constant pain and unable to remain in any position for more than half an hour.
About Falling Down…
A few months ago, I was out in a garden bed explaining something to Mel and stepped back into a depression in the soft soil. That caused me to tip over. Slowly and gracelessly, I slid to the ground and collapsed backward into a large ornamental grass plant.
I looked silly but was not hurt, just irritated, and as usual, after any accident, I started to giggle uncontrollably. Mel was justifiably appalled at the fall and wanted to get me upright.
I was trying to explain how I needed to get up but was unable to communicate due to giggling. Meantime, Mel wanted to pull me up in a normal way. The result was that she pulled me up by brute force, and I naturally braced my feet on the ground and used my legs (and knees) to get up.
WRONG!
That action caused huge stress on my annoying piriformis muscle, and right knee and hip. Bingo. We have a problem, Houston.
Getting up is hard to do
For me, getting up correctly from the ground is hard and takes a number of very odd-looking moves.
How I SHOULD have recovered from that fall was.
1. Roll sideways onto right forearm
2. Brace left hand firmly on the ground
3. Add left hand to help brace
4. Edge right knee under body
5. Gradually edge right leg into crouch
6. Bring left leg up and get left foot on the ground
7. Gradually brace weight with hands and get to knees, then into an upright bridge position, dragging left leg out to brace.
8. From here, it should be possible to get up without unduly stressing either knee or hips or knees.
Basically, one is almost upright, with the weight evenly distributed
This is where a helping hand or something to grab comes in handy. If one is using one’s arms to get upright, the knees and hips should be saved. It is VERY irritating and awkward for me to get up from the floor or ground.
Anyhow, as a result of that fall, I put a lot of extra strain on the Piriformis muscle and on the two weakened joints. The bottom line is that the meniscus in the right knee has become super aggravated and inflamed, as has the right hip.
But, at the root of it all is the over-stressed piriformis muscle
Obviously, this issue is hugely curtailing my normal day-to-day activities.
In October, I felt the need to prune the tops of our 9-foot Cedar hedges with some help from one of the girls, Anjelica.
Part of that included getting up on a short ladder and hand-sawing some of the thicker bits. A bit tricky and not something Anjelica could do given the dangerous saw I use.
She used the pole pruner to get the thinner pieces, then we placed the ladder against the fence, wedged it behind the cedars, and I got up with the Zubat and sawed off the offending branches. This job took much longer than anticipated, so I was at it for about 2 hours, nonstop. I mean, once you are stuck up a ladder, might as well finish the job, right?
Unfortunately, this two-hour adventure REALLY bugged the Piriformis muscle and I was in agony afterwards. (But the darned Cedars got cut …).
My plan to reduce use of the cane has gone down the tubes, and I am having to do a ton of additional remedial exercises, as well as applying ice packs, heat pads and electrodes to sore areas.
My acupuncture doctor thinks he could fix it with a couple of special, really long needles positioned in the butt. Sadly, I am way too chicken for that; also, the place the needles need to go is a bit too personal, I will need to find a lady acupuncturist — so for now, I am working with my physiotherapist to gain insight into how to strengthen up the core and knee muscles and stretch out that Piriformis muscle.
Additionally, at both of their suggestions, I am now using a TENs unit every day to try to work that muscle back to normal. That does seem to help a bit.
However, the bottom line is that I cannot be in any one position for more than 30 minutes, if I do not move around, I am brought to a halt by what is called referral pain in my thighs and calves. (By the way, most painkillers do not work on referral or referred pain).
If garden work tends to cause problems, writing articles is also difficult because I need to be able to sit still and concentrate for long periods of time. But that is out. Ergo, not too much writing going on lately.
I seem to have regressed.
