So I've been on a long old journey with bad knees for quite some time now.
The pain was interrupting my life day in day out. I felt like an arthritic 90 year old in a 26 year olds body! As you can imagine pain like this can really start to get you down. I struggled to get out of bed, waking hurt and standing up from sitting was beyond a joke. There was one time I was sat on a train for around an hour and I actually couldn't physically lift myself from the chair. A woman in her twenties shouldn't be like that!!!!! I had to haul myself up using my upper body strength ( what I have of it anyway) by grabbing the headrest. It was a rugby day in good ol' Wales so as you can imagine plenty of people saw that! I was in agony as I got off the train only for my cars battery to have died and I had to walk 20 minutes home! FUMING!
That was a massive turning point for me. I knew something had to be done. I simply couldn't live like this any more.
I headed to my GP who put in a referral to a Rheumatologist and a physiotherapist. As you can imagine the wait for the hospital, even on the highest priority list was long.
The physio came first. My first session I had a great guy who instantly assumed my problem was stemming from my joints being hyper mobile. I was thinking to myself "wait isn't that double jointed people? That's not me surely". I did so much ballet as a child and I was always the least flexible there. But out of my friends I was always the most, bendy, I guess you can call it.
Sadly my physiotherapist was moving on to another hospital after our first session. My next session with another chap was okay but he didn't agree with the hypermobility diagnosis. Said my muscles were too weak and I needed to work them to get better support around my joints decreasing my pain. Hmmm.
He recommended going to the gym and working certain muscle groups like my quads and glutes. I got my gym membership and got straight on it. I mean I had to at least try! Yes I noticed a small improvement but nothing spectacular and breathed a sigh of relief when I was signed off.
As time went on, still waiting to see the rheumatology consultant I carried on gymming it a few times a week but I lost hope and gave up.
Resting up after work each night I had noticed was starting to help. I had also noticed my footwear was playing a BIG part in my pain. I ditched what I thought were my amazing and comfy wedges for converse and I started noticing things getting better day by day at a rapid pace!
Woooo I was getting somewhere.
The rheumatology appointment finally came through after almost a year from referral.
On the day of the appointment my consultant ran through my history of pain and what I had learnt triggers wise etc. She then did a physical examination. As she was doing all this I could see her noting a score down on my sheet. What I've now come to realise is she was assessing me using the Beighton Score.
So now nearly 6 months later, I'm in a different place. I know how to cope. Where to push my body and where not too.
My next post will be a life as a hypermobile and my new fitness journey!
Is there anyone out there who suffers with this?
Get in touch if so!
Sorry for the long history lesson there it just makes all the next lot of posts more relevant and understandable.
Thanks for reading!
Aimie xx
