Yellowspike - Dr. Guichet, Internal Femurs, Late 2014

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Quote from: YellowSpike on January 05, 2017, 05:57:55 PMYup, those are my next steps. I would generally agree that it's not flexibility related, but it's weird how it acts up at certain times (long airplane rides, just from walking a lot, etc.). Sometimes I can walk a lot and it doesn't act up at all. I went to a PT not too long ago, and they said they thought it was due to a combination of weak hip muscles, tight hip flexors and weak inner thigh muscles. I need to address that more, I will admit.

I just can't see it being the rod, although it might be. If maybe Dr. R could just adjust it, but leave it in, that would be great.

Muscle spasm as much to my knowledge, arent caused by weak muscles.. Although now that I think of it, it could be because of over stretch (due to lengthening in your case obviously) which causes the calcium channels in your muscles to open up spotaneiusly

edit: It's all my opinion and nothing more... Listen to your doc.. But you should say something about those calcium channels to your neurologist once you meet him.. He might dismiss it but it wouldn't hurt to ask

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Quote from: TIBIKE200 on January 05, 2017, 06:03:58 PMMuscle spasm as much to my knowledge, arent caused by weak muscles.. Although now that I think of it, it could be because of over stretch (due to lengthening in your case obviously) which causes the calcium channels in your muscles to open up spotaneiusly

edit: It's all my opinion and nothing more... Listen to your doc.. But you should say something about those calcium channels to your neurologist once you meet him.. He might dismiss it but it wouldn't hurt to ask

It's just frustrating because Dr. G said via email he doesn't believe it's the rod, Dr. R isn't entirely sure, and even getting a neurologist to see me is like jumping through hoops.

I also notice that sometimes, when I get these episodes, when standing up straight, my right leg wants to bend a bit (whereas my left leg straightens easily). I honestly think it's related to the overstretching of muscles that were already naturally shorter on my right leg.

Whatever. I will get to the bottom of this. Honest to God...the height increase was worth it. Being my old height (5'5" and some change) was horrible.

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Sorry to hear this Yellow.

Quote On my right leg, Dr. G said I had a contracture before I got the surgery.

How was this tested? Did he advise against the surgery itself? I wonder if other doctors even check for this before operating.

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Quote from: SAD on January 05, 2017, 06:37:53 PMSorry to hear this Yellow.

How was this tested? Did he advise against the surgery itself? I wonder if other doctors even check for this before operating.

It's fine. I will be ok. Just need to get to the bottom of it so I know what needs to be done in order to address it. As I said...I still don't regret the surgery!

Dr. G did not advise against surgery, but said that we'd have to be "very careful" with how my I lengthen. So in retrospect, I think I was wise to stop at 7cm. Although oddly, I had more pain in my left leg towards the end of clicking than my right leg. This issue with the right leg didn't start until about a year ago. And I remember the first bad "episode" I had took place after doing deep leg press reps. So I stopped those, and mostly stopped squatting. Now, I just do deadlifts, along with leg curls and extension for legs. Anything quad intensive seems to make it act up.

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I understand there are many other reasons why you may be experiencing this pain.

Personally, I don't feel comfortable going 100%- jumping- sprinting- until my rods are taken out but I know for a fact that it's the rods and screws that are the source of my discomfort and you mentioned that it's not what YOU FEEL is the issue.

The recovery process is long, but as you know, the benefits of being taller are too great to outweigh this discomfort.  I think it's important to be honest about these pains and to document them so people will know what goes on during recovery, and ultimately, how we resolved these issues. 

 

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Quote from: Iamready on January 05, 2017, 07:16:52 PMI understand there are many other reasons why you may be experiencing this pain.

Personally, I don't feel comfortable going 100%- jumping- sprinting- until my rods are taken out but I know for a fact that it's the rods and screws that are the source of my discomfort and you mentioned that it's not what YOU FEEL is the issue.

The recovery process is long, but as you know, the benefits of being taller are too great to outweigh this discomfort.  I think it's important to be honest about these pains and to document them so people will know what goes on during recovery, and ultimately, how we resolved these issues.

Yeah I don't know what the issue is. It may or may not be the rod. I just wanted to leave them in, personally. Or at least, not remove them for another year or two. I just don't want to do it right now, although it'll never be a "good time" remove them.

I know I won't ever be entirely "normal" again so long as I keep the rods in, but seeing as I can do most things with them in (even with this recurring right leg pain), I'm mostly ok with that. At least, for now. Honestly, the only thing bothering me right now is the right leg recurring pain.

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hey yellow, I'm glad to hear you're doing well, other than the pain issue. I know you prob want to stay off the forums as much as possible, but reading your diary was really helpful for me as I'm sure they are for others, so I do appreciate the updates even if they're just once and a while.

Quote from: YellowSpike on January 05, 2017, 05:16:05 PMEvery so often (and I’m sure bodybuilding – deadlifts, squats, etc. has exacerbated it, and that is on me), my right leg will tense up so much that it’s painful to the point where I temporarily cannot put weight on it. When I get these episodes, I feels like an intense throbbing pain, and I can even see my muscles contracting/twitching when this happens. And oddly, even just taking long airplane trip seems to make it act up as well. Hot baths, ice packs, OTC pain meds, and elevation seem to help, but sometimes it takes time to get relief from any of these.

Sounds just like the muscle strains I used to get early on during my recovery. I had 2 bad quad strains I can remember. once from lowering the seat on the stationary bike and doing high resistance to try to build back up my quads, and my weak and overstretched quads just weren't ready for that at all. the other time was also just from sitting in an airplane seat for for a couple hours. I think something about the plane seat made an awkward stretch on my inner quad for too long. both times I had intense throbbing pain in my quads and couldn't walk without pain in my knee too until after a couple hours. the best way to recover from the strain was just rest. honestly, I'm surprised muscle strains don't get mentioned in diaries more often during recovery.

muscle strains can be caused by bad flexibility or muscle strength imbalance (like if your hamstrings are way stronger than your quads). I agree with what your PT said and my guess is that it's a combination of both for you. you said you still have tight hips/quads and are doing body building (with heavy weights?) which is probably making your flexibility and muscle imbalances worse. I feel like it really takes years for the muscles to recover and adapt from LL and you might still be pushing too much and too soon. I think you need to be careful because continuing to push too hard could lead to something even worse like a muscle tear. I've just kind of accepted it's gonna take awhile for my leg muscles to recover fully so I've stopped pushing myself so hard at the gym and focus more on stretching and doing only embarrassing amounts of weight on the machines. since then I haven't had any additional strains or leg pain at all really. the downside though is that my legs are still a little weak, but I'll get them strong again eventually

If I were you I'd take a break from body building for awhile, workout those weak areas very gradually, and stretch stretch stretch any remaining tight muscles (quads, hip flexors, IT bands for me). that's my non-professional opinion at least

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Quote from: goldenegg on January 05, 2017, 11:27:02 PMhey yellow, I'm glad to hear you're doing well, other than the pain issue. I know you prob want to stay off the forums as much as possible, but reading your diary was really helpful for me as I'm sure they are for others, so I do appreciate the updates even if they're just once and a while.

Sounds just like the muscle strains I used to get early on during my recovery. I had 2 bad quad strains I can remember. once from lowering the seat on the stationary bike and doing high resistance to try to build back up my quads, and my weak and overstretched quads just weren't ready for that at all. the other time was also just from sitting in an airplane seat for for a couple hours. I think something about the plane seat made an awkward stretch on my inner quad for too long. both times I had intense throbbing pain in my quads and couldn't walk without pain in my knee too until after a couple hours. the best way to recover from the strain was just rest. honestly, I'm surprised muscle strains don't get mentioned in diaries more often during recovery.

muscle strains can be caused by bad flexibility or muscle strength imbalance (like if your hamstrings are way stronger than your quads). I agree with what your PT said and my guess is that it's a combination of both for you. you said you still have tight hips/quads and are doing body building (with heavy weights?) which is probably making your flexibility and muscle imbalances worse. I feel like it really takes years for the muscles to recover and adapt from LL and you might still be pushing too much and too soon. I think you need to be careful because continuing to push too hard could lead to something even worse like a muscle tear. I've just kind of accepted it's gonna take awhile for my leg muscles to recover fully so I've stopped pushing myself so hard at the gym and focus more on stretching and doing only embarrassing amounts of weight on the machines. since then I haven't had any additional strains or leg pain at all really. the downside though is that my legs are still a little weak, but I'll get them strong again eventually

If I were you I'd take a break from body building for awhile, workout those weak areas very gradually, and stretch stretch stretch any remaining tight muscles (quads, hip flexors, IT bands for me). that's my non-professional opinion at least

Thanks goldenegg! Actually, your post gives me some hope. Maybe I should post on here more lol

What you describe sounds EXACTLY like what I've been having. I think I've been having the issue more often than you because of my bodybuilding. I HAVE stopped doing leg press (that made it act up REALLY bad!), and for the most part, stopped doing squats too (even though I like doing squats...). The only major thing I do for legs is deadlifts, but at least while that DOES work your quads, in my experience, it's more for glutes and hamstrings (along with lower back and core). Doing deadlifts doesn't seem to make it act up, but I'm sure it doesn't help. I'm not lifting super heavy, but probably still a bit more than I should.

I feel like I have weak hip muscles (glute medius I believe) and weak inner thigh muscles. I need to work on those, as well as keep stretching. My flexibility is actually pretty good, all things considered. My hip flexors probably need the most work.

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Quote from: goldenegg on January 05, 2017, 11:27:02 PMhey yellow, I'm glad to hear you're doing well, other than the pain issue. I know you prob want to stay off the forums as much as possible, but reading your diary was really helpful for me as I'm sure they are for others, so I do appreciate the updates even if they're just once and a while.

Sounds just like the muscle strains I used to get early on during my recovery. I had 2 bad quad strains I can remember. once from lowering the seat on the stationary bike and doing high resistance to try to build back up my quads, and my weak and overstretched quads just weren't ready for that at all. the other time was also just from sitting in an airplane seat for for a couple hours. I think something about the plane seat made an awkward stretch on my inner quad for too long. both times I had intense throbbing pain in my quads and couldn't walk without pain in my knee too until after a couple hours. the best way to recover from the strain was just rest. honestly, I'm surprised muscle strains don't get mentioned in diaries more often during recovery.

muscle strains can be caused by bad flexibility or muscle strength imbalance (like if your hamstrings are way stronger than your quads). I agree with what your PT said and my guess is that it's a combination of both for you. you said you still have tight hips/quads and are doing body building (with heavy weights?) which is probably making your flexibility and muscle imbalances worse. I feel like it really takes years for the muscles to recover and adapt from LL and you might still be pushing too much and too soon. I think you need to be careful because continuing to push too hard could lead to something even worse like a muscle tear. I've just kind of accepted it's gonna take awhile for my leg muscles to recover fully so I've stopped pushing myself so hard at the gym and focus more on stretching and doing only embarrassing amounts of weight on the machines. since then I haven't had any additional strains or leg pain at all really. the downside though is that my legs are still a little weak, but I'll get them strong again eventually

If I were you I'd take a break from body building for awhile, workout those weak areas very gradually, and stretch stretch stretch any remaining tight muscles (quads, hip flexors, IT bands for me). that's my non-professional opinion at least

I too notice that working heavily on my legs has inversely affected my recovery, mainly my flexibility.  I think it's right to take care of flexibility before building muscle, or at least let the muscle recover slowly through natural means- walking, daily use, etc.  When my arms feel better, the first thing i'll be doing is starting yoga.

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my case is the same.
I stopped to do dumbbell in my legs because after these i have my calves very stiff and the achiles tendon area.
i'm doing stationary bike and i start to do swiming with fins again.