Fixing my Hip

Let's try this again. I wrote this whole post out last week, accidentally posted it early, thought I hadn't, tried to update it, and ended up deleting it somehow. The idea of rewriting it (especially because I'd kind of forgotten everything I'd written) was a no go, so I figured I'd write it again later. This injury isn't going anywhere. 

One of the things I enjoy about my job is that it has good health insurance. I have not had good health insurance since I was on my parents' plan, but even the copays back then were tricky, so it's honestly been a while. Now though, it's great! And I'm finally able to get consistent care. 

I've done a physical, seen the doctor for my esophageal spasms that sometimes feel like a heart issue (they are not but it's nice to hear from a doctor that my chest pain isn't anything to worry about), and am going to finally get my contacts paid for after years of paying out of pocket, but the weekly/biweekly visits working on my body have been my favorite part. I started working with the chiropractor every other week for a while, which has been great. My upper back and neck are always really bad and I've always found that regular chiro helps with that. Sure enough, I didn't realize how much pain I was in until I started going regularly! 

I just started physical therapy as well! It took a while to get on his schedule and it was something I kept putting off until my hip actually freaked out. Then I went in (and have an appointment for my wrist coming up too). 

This

He did a full examination where he looked at my balance, having me stand on one leg and do certain movements. He came to the conclusion that my piriformis is incredibly tight and that is causing my pelvis to be tilted and THAT is causing some interesting problems. Long time blog readers who have very good memories for weird biomechanical things may recognize some of these symptoms...

1.) my right leg wants to be more bent than my right

2.) my left oblique is weak

3.) I might find it hard to drop my right seat bone

4.) my right side is stronger than my left

5.) I can't turn off my right hamstring

Hmmmm I told him that all of those things sounded like my long time riding problems. 

Me, about my SI injury

He thinks that this is a very old injury, where something happened where my pelvis was twisted hard. Then my body basically tightened up around that twist and it stayed. Namely, my right piriformis tightened around my right hip and locked it into place. Then a decade later, I was squatting and my piriformis yelled I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE and freaked out. 

Back in early 2011, I was riding a horse who my boss had assured me had been out all week (I was gone). He had not. He had this nasty root-buck-twist move and he did it to me early in our ride. Rooted me out of my secure position, leapt into the air, then twisted. I was out for a couple of weeks but all I did for it was take anti inflammatories and gave myself a stomach ulcer. Then that caused me to drop weight and therefore feel super weak, so I got flung head first into a fence. Being a horse trainer crash dummy is rough. I went back to school after that. 

That is very likely when this injury occurred and my body has been compensating for it for years. 

My SI and my hip to me, I'm sure lol

I'm bummed that I didn't take it seriously back then (and honestly, I couldn't, I had to keep working and had almost no money since it was winter) but I'm glad I can take it seriously right now. I am doing my physical therapy exercises each day, which mostly include me pummeling my right piriformis and right hamstring with a lacrosse ball. 

Hopefully it starts to get better! I can already feel it complaining. My back has been hurting, which I think was due to the balance on the saddle being off but could absolutely be part of what my tight piriformis was protecting me from. 

I go back today for a check in, I'm hoping to get some exercises for my wrist too! We'll see how far we get.