Physical therapy Evaluation

I am so excited about PT! I was evaluated today. I thought I was just going in for some help building back up. But they had an extensive questionnaire about any pain I feel at any time. I told them I had pain in both shoulders and my right hip.

So she was moving and poking and prodding and asking questions. Because the hip pain hadn't happened in awhile (probably because I have become so sedentary!) I completely forgot that it started after my 3 month pregnancy bedrest in '01, and was so bad that a 30 minute Wal-Mart trip would force me to recover for the rest of the day! It was hurting a little bit this morning or I would never have told her about it at all.

What she told me is that my left hip is actually higher up than the right one! Also, my right leg is slightly longer than the left (she would have expected it to be the other way around). My right hip is tilted out of place, slightly forward. She did some very gentle exercises to move it back into place, and it worked. We'll do those for awhile and eventually it will stay in place. I didn't feel much different walking afterward, but my hip no longer hurt!

Of course she has no idea what caused it. I had hip dysplasia as an infant but was released from medical checkups at age 13. It's possible the triplet pregnancy caused it. I had asked the doctor about it back then and was told it was "normal" - I gained a lot of weight and was on complete bed rest for 3 months. I asked about it sometime after and was told my body was recovering from the bed rest. I told the lady today that I have felt like I was still recovering from bedrest, in many ways, 10 years later!

So I should have pushed for more answers! I can't believe my legs have been different lengths all this time and nobody noticed?? How did *I* not notice??

It's funny, my Grandmother always walked slightly lopsided. More so as she got older. I wonder if she had the same problem with her legs? I wish she was here to ask. I would also love to ask my Mom more about the hip problem I had as an infant. I had to wear a cast on both legs, with a bar between to hold my legs apart, for a year I think. Because of that it took forever for me to learn to walk. Instead I learned to scoot quite well. I had to go in for yearly checkups until I was 13.

I am very excited to continue the PT. we're going to start with 3 days a week and work on the shoulders too which she believes is a posture issue.