Laxity

Not blogged for a while - this is a busy time of year for me - but there is an issue that's been on my mind for so many years I reckon it deserves a little air time.

My knees have always played up when my weight goes up.  Now is no different.  Back to my heaviest in 40 years and any sort of stairs are awkward and painful; in the night and on getting up even walking is very painful.  Driving to work and the hour sitting in the car can leave me hobbling on arrival.  Yet I see far heavier people than myself trotting along in dainty footwear.  For me there has to be deep cushioning and arch support just to walk around on a daily basis.  The weight is one thing I have a plan to tackle - but why am I so particularly disabled by a few excess stone? Trying to walk down the stairs in the morning my legs are like an old woman with arthritis - wobbly and tender - but I know I haven't got any of the redness or swelling that would indicate arthritis.  It's just damned painful and worse with every pound of weight.  But it is the weight I'm sure - I've tried exclusion diets (did I have a wheat or gluten allergy?) and thought it was working until I acknowledged I was also losing weight as a consequence.  Gradually I have had to acknowledge that every time the weight reaches a certain mark the joint pains begin to become debilitating.

When I was an infant and started walking (late, by all accounts) I was diagnosed as flat footed, as I had a strange clumsy gait.  Special shoes and time and this sorted itself out, but if I walk too far without support when I'm heavy I still feel as if my arches are collapsing.  At my lightest (in my late 20's) I tried jogging - something I always dreamed of experiencing - but just as I managed my first mile I was hit with excruciating pain in my knees and the inability to even squat down to get into the freezer.  Couldn't push a shopping trolley or bend down, let alone run.  Any sideways pressure was really painful, so slipping in the shower - ouch.  The doctor diagnosed 'grazed patellas' and on manipulating my knees declared my ligaments were very loose - he could move my knee joints sideways more than he expected.  Basically I had hyper-extended my knees whilst running, particularly downhill, because of lax ligaments.  Prescription = rest and exercises to strengthen the ligaments that support the knee, to prevent the joint from slipping. Took about 18 months to feel better and no more jogging for me...

Twelve years ago, thereabouts, I embarrassingly came off my scooter at about 5 miles an hour on ice.  Tried to stop from hitting a wall by putting out my left leg and boot.  Should have let go of the throttle but didn't - inexperience.  Consequence = hot burning slicing feeling in my outer thigh and knee and lying part under my bike with my left knee bend round at an unnatural angle.  Whilst still partially in shock I grabbed the said leg and hauled it back straight.  Then I yelled...  My knee cap had disappeared several inches down my shin, there was a hole in my thigh which took years to finally fill in, and zero muscle tone requiring crutches and learning to walk from the buttock. More strengthening exercises and a warning not to do it again. Eventually got an MRI scan of the knee - in typical NHS fashion long after the event (had I gone straight to A&E they would have done it as a matter of course) and 'early Osgood-Schlatter Disease' was noted; inflammation of the bone and cartilage/tendon of the patella.  Over the next few years I got used to 'protecting the left' and the occasional and unpredictable collapse of the knee when stepping off a curb.

So now I start putting the pieces together.  I think I have something called 'ligamentous laxity' of the knees - and possibly other joints as well.  One of the early signs in childhood is late walking and a diagnosis of flat feet.  In actuality it is the laxity of the ligaments which causes the young arch to drop when standing - when sitting to arch will be present. The loose ligaments make it easier to injure the knee by the joint moving more than it should, such as jogging with inadequate shoes.   In my bike accident I undoubtedly nearly dislocated my knee but the laxity meant it actually stretched where it shouldn't.  Popping of the knees (I get this turning over in bed sometimes), pain on stairs (particularly going down) and feeling as if the arches are dropping.

So I have laxity of the knees. Nothing too awful, nothing really debilitating, but enough to make weight matter. And I've had a series of insults to the patella tendon which have exacerbated the problem.  Along with natural aging it means that every time I go up and down stairs I'm putting a huge pressure on unstable joints and this is worse after relaxing - so getting up in the night my ligaments are loose and the instability worse.  Putting good supportive slippers on helps to stop the arches shifting but ultimately I need to LOSE WEIGHT because, unlike the very large ladies in their stilettos with their super-stable knee joints I literally cannot support my own weight.  So watch this space...


Then of course there's the BUNIONS ;-)