Injured the leg...

[Art Mulder]

A story of ouch ouch ouch.

Last weekend our family went up to stay at a lovely cottage on Sandy Lake (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=buckhorn,+ontario&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=44.545463,-78.390026&spn=0.049426,0.166683&om=1), in Eastern Ontario, just a bit north of Peterborough. This was a get together with my wife's family - 7 adults and 9 young kids in a large cottage. Great weekend. Great to see each other, since we don't live close.

The weather was gorgeous, the lake is beautiful, (look it up on the satellite, very cool) and the cottage was equipped with a canoe, kayak, and a paddle boat.
63160

So we paddled around a bit over the weekend, and then Sunday morning I took my 10yr old and my 3yr old out in the paddle boat. The lake was like glass, dead calm, and my son and I thought we'd paddle across the lake. (checking maps.google.com I see that the distance was just shy of 1km across. So call it a 1.9km round trip paddle) It was fun. A bit tiring, but fun to accomplish. But by the time we were about half way back I thought that this was probably a bit much, and I'd probably be a bit sore later. The seating/peddling position was just not quite the most comfortable for long term use. Still, I bike to work (4km each way) all year round, I should be in reasonably good shape.

Boy was I wrong.

About an hour after this adventure I started to feel it, mostly in my right leg (upper thigh). By the time we packed to leave, around 2pm, I was hobbling, and my wife had to drive. Let me tell you, a 5hr car ride when you can't, quite, find a comfortable seating position, is not the most pleasent.

When I got home I could barely climb the stairs and drop into bed.

I'm no doctor, but I guess I must have strained a muscle in my leg. I spent most of Monday laying down. I can stand for short periods, and lay down on the couch, but I can't sit in a chair for more than 5-10 minutes. Today is a bit better, but I kind of suspect that I'm going to be out for the week.

My wife told me that 42 is too young to be old and decrepit. :rolleyes:

play safe, folks.
...art

[Belinda Barfield]

A story of ouch ouch ouch.

My wife told me that 42 is too young to be old and decrepit. :rolleyes:

...art

Sorry to hear about the leg Art. Hope you heal quickly. I love the comment from your wife. The funny thing is I agree with her, however, my body is starting to disagree a little. About two months ago I had a similar mishap - still don't know what I did - but could barely walk for a week. (I'm 44). I was told that I need a longer "warm up" before activity now that I'm "older". Sheesh!! Up until that point I didn't realize I was "older".:p Take it easy this week!

[Joe Pelonio]

Sorry to hear about your injury and I hope you recover fast.

It won't get any easier at 54, I can tell you. Any time I use muscles that I normally don't, I pay for it. Next month I go to my Mom's and spend a day or more planting their vegetable garden, 8-10 hours on my hands and knees will mean a lot of stiffness the next day, but I've never had anything like what happened to you. One thing I do now is to spend 15-20 minutes stretching,
but I doubt that would have helped in your case, I think you just overdid the strenuous repetitive motion.

[Nancy Laird]

Art,hope your leg heals quickly. Sounds like you might have gotten a deep charleyhorse in that thigh and believe it or not, working it, stretching it, and walking on it will help it turn loose faster than coddling it.

It doesn't get any easier at 61 either!! LOML and I spent Saturday installing air lines in a shop--up and down ladders, cutting and threading pipe, just generally moving around on a concrete floor, and wrestling a dust collector together and into place. By the time we got home, I was almost frozen in position in the truck. It's now Tuesday and I'm just now getting "loose" from that ordeal. I wouldn't even do the garden thing, Joe. It's bad enough getting up off the floor after I clean the cat box!!

Nancy

[John Schreiber]

How dare our bodies betray us like that. After we treat them so well!?

Keep on biking to work. Year round in Ontario. Good for you!

[Gary Herrmann]

Well, it was an odd position and you worked the muscles steadily for what - a couple hours?

Also, if you're right handed and you played a lot of sports, you may be left legged - using it to plant and jump etc. Which means that your left is stronger than your right leg - which is why you feel it more in your right.

If you haven't already, try RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation on your quads if that is where most of the pain is.

Maybe try some hurdlers stretches if you can take the pain - altho if the muscle is strained, RICE would be best.

Not a doc or a PT, just a jock for a long time that had to recover after various injuries and 3 knee surgeries.

[Rich Stewart]

Aging sure ain't for sissies. At 52 I make all sorts of noises when bending over, putting on socks, getting out of bed in the morning. Back, knees, wrists, fingers. Brain.

[Jim Becker]

Ouch...I've had a similar issue with my right leg/knee since pulling Professor Dr. SWMBO's car out of the snow...stepped off the tractor "funny".

I think I vacationed many, many years ago as a child on one of those lakes...a place called 'Kirk's Cove' if my memory serves. I remember fishing and also the water skiing shows they put on. This was probably in the late 1960s, but my memories are dim...

[Jim O'Dell]

Gary, we used to do a lot of hurdler stretches in track (back in the early to mid 70's). At a reunion in the mid 80's, I mentioned to my HS track coach that my knees were always giving me trouble. He said that most likely it was the hurdler stretches we did, and that if he knew then what he knows now (later then?) he would never have allowed us to do them.
Art, watch for bruising on the back of your thigh. I had an accident with an exit sign a few years ago late one Feb evening coming back from a dog show. Trucker fell asleep and went through the sign, slinging it out into the roadway. Luckily it was flat on the hwy when I hit it at about 70 mph. Truck went up the exit and stopped between 2 over passes. I stopped below him on the hwy. I went walking up the incline to talk to him when He started driving off. I tried to run up the embankment to at least get the tag number...took about 6 steps an WHAMO!, I felt something in my right leg. Hobbled back down drove down the hwy to the next exit and came back to find him at a gas station. 3 days later I was walking down the hall way, well hobbling would be more like it, wearing some shorts and LOML was behind me and said "What did you do!!!??!!" I went and looked in a mirror and the back of the right leg was black from my, er, bum to just below my knee. Major tear on a ham string. Had never done that before.
One thing that will help the healing process is to go to a health food store and get some "Arnica". It is little white sugar pills the size of a BB, that has this herb in it. Helps with inflamation and bruising. All natural. The RICE thing would have been good to start when you started feeling the discomfort, at least by the time you got home, but may not be as helpful 3 days later, but should give you a little relief. I forget how many days later you go to heat, something like 5 if I remember correctly. But that may have changed over the years. Talk to your Dr. He/she will have the most up-to-date procedure to follow. And take it slow and easy. Make the Dr. give you a prescription for rest and shop time. :D Jim.

[Art Mulder]

Thanks for the kind words and stories, folks.

Still hobbling around here, and mostly laying down. Saw the doc last night and she reassured me that nothing was broken. The joints seem okay also. She concludes that I've "buggered up" my hamstring. I've got a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant, and a referral to physio...

slow and easy does it, I guess.

[Art Mulder]

...or maybe not. The physio doc told me my hamstring was fine. Rather I've got sciatica. So it's my back, not my leg. Makes sense. Got some exercises, but otherwise just need to wait it out.:(

[Brett Baldwin]

That makes more sense with all the biking you do. Nothing like tweaking a nerve to get your undivided attention.

[jeremy levine]

Sciatica is a bitch , sorry to hear you it hit you.

[Doug Shepard]

...or maybe not. The physio doc told me my hamstring was fine. Rather I've got sciatica. So it's my back, not my leg. Makes sense. Got some exercises, but otherwise just need to wait it out.:(

Yup - I suspected as much and was going to suggest you get your back looked at. At lot of your symptoms sound like pinched nerve problems. Been there - done that.

[Art Mulder]

Just thought I'd update this, mostly as a warning to all you other over-40-type folks in mostly-sedentary jobs...

I had a CT a few weeks back which confirmed that I have two discs protruding, and one of them is pushing on the S1 nerve for my right leg, hence all the pain/discomfort.

As I write this note, June 11.07, I'm laying on my stomach, with my daily icepack on my back. I do that about once a day for 20 minutes.

It's been since April 22, and I am still not back to work full-time. I am so incredibly thankful for the short-term disability benefits I get through work. That is 3 weeks of no work, followed by 3 weeks at half time, followed by a weekend relapse (back to laying down most of the day) followed by another week at roughly half time... And so it goes. Usually I feel mostly okay, ever now and then I just need to take a break, change positions, or sometimes just take 15 minutes to lie down.

Still, it could be a lot worse. I should be fine eventually, so my physiotherapist tells me. But it may take a few more months of regular exercises and stretches before I'm totally pain-free.

I built myself a quick/dirty plywood box thing to go on my desk at work, so that I can alternate between standing at my computer and sitting. (I've got two monitors attached to my mac, both set to show the same thing, so I can switch between sitting or standing and have the same work on my screen.)

So all you sit-down folks... take care of your back, exercise, don't overdo things, and above all, make sure you have a good desk chair and don't slouch!!!

...art

[Jude Kingery]

Art, sure hope you get to feeling better soon, sciatica is no fun. My husband has dealt with that several times; and I know not all people are sold on chiropractors, but that's helped him more than the muscle relaxants which he doesn't like to take because they make him drowsy. His chiro had him up and walking and back at work with two visits - and your physio sounds like that's a good regimen as well - my husband has exercises to do that help considerably. He's pain free now. Hope for you the same soon! Sincerely, Jude

[Greg Cole]

Hey Art,
Peterborough eh... lucky you get to see a ton of talent before they are famous if you are a 'Petes fan. Your vacations sound like mine, need to return to home & work to recooperate!
I managed to pinch the hell out of a nerve in my left arm last year while tearing siding off my house.... if you've ever seen Stanleys latest greatest demo tool referred to as a "FUBAR" in the rag ad's, well I can attest it can FUBAR a thumb too. It's a PITA working without feeling in your left thumb.... and the darn thing took at least 2 months before it was even remotely back to normal.

Greg

[Chris Padilla]

I hear getting old blows! True?! ;)

Chris, who just turned 38 and bikes 28 miles per day! :D

P.S. Heal up, Art...you just tweaked it kinda funny I think. Might have a doc look at to be sure it isn't something more serious....

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

Still, it could be a lot worse. I should be fine eventually, so my physiotherapist tells me. But it may take a few more months of regular exercises and stretches before I'm totally pain-free.



have you considered accupuncture?

i used to have horrendous neck and back pain from assorted sports injuries. chiropractics did not help. meds did not help. therapy did not help.

the accupuncture treatments were nothing short of miraculous.