Ultrasound
I'd been experiencing hip pain for several months when I tried to move my affected leg. My therapists tried to figure out the cause and couldn't quite pinpoint it. Eventually, I got a referral to and ultrasound specialist.
He quickly found the issue -- it was a tendon. He gave me a steroid injection and after a few days most of the pain was gone.
The main cause was my gait. Basically, because I don't walk like I use to (I tend to swing my leg out, lock my knee and lift my hip) I irritated the tendon, and it screamed at me whenever I tried to use it.
The short term solution is the injection. That will last a few months. The longer term solution is to strengthen my knee and leg-brain connections so I can learn to walk again with a more traditional gait.
And Evening with Neuroscience
I attended a panel Q&A with a bunch of neurologists last week, and it was a fascinating 2 hours. I spent the time soaking in all sorts of information and tweeting about it.
#EWN2018 In dreams your brain does all the actual actions you are dreaming. The only reason you don't physically move is the brain stem inhibits it. Given that, I wonder about the implications are for the disabled who have able-bodied dreams.
— Bill Monroe (@CurrentlyBill) April 14, 2018
#ewn2018 "Brain developed out of movement." Interesting implications for stroke recovery and PT/OT
— Bill Monroe (@CurrentlyBill) April 14, 2018
#ewn2018 "The MEMORIES of your experiences make you who you are."
— Bill Monroe (@CurrentlyBill) April 14, 2018
It was sponsored by Grey Matters, an neurology journal published by University of Washington under grads. One goal of the event is to connect more of the broader community with science and the brain. If you get a chance to go to something similar, and you like science, I recommend it.
PT and the Stationary Bike
I wrote about this study in a separate post here on Strokecast.
Basically, 30 minutes a day of both PT and Stationary bike work results in much better balance and walking performance alone. If your Doctor or medical team approves, and a stationary bike ride to your exercise routine can be quite helpful.
Hack of the Week
Play Pokémon Go or Ingress on your smart phone.
These are augmented reality games. That means you have to leave your home to play. The games send you to different locations in your community to complete tasks, like catching cute, virtual critters.
As stroke survivors, we know that most of us need to leave home from time-to-time to get exercise, improve our walking, stimulate our brains with the real world, and more. Sometimes, that's not a good enough reason. We need a more concrete and immediate goal. Pokémon Go and Ingress give us those concrete goals.
Plus, they're fun and are a great way to connect with friends and family who are already playing.
Where do we go from here?
- Talk to your medical team about pains you have and keep giving them data so they can help point you in the right direction.
- Find local events you can attend to learn more about the brain
- Add an exercise bike to your routine, if your Doctor approves.
- Subscribe to Strokecast in your favorite podcast app.
- Don't get best...get better.
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