Well Don't

[smokingboot]

I am aware of my wrongness, in that one of the things that amused me about Suor Angelica was the escapade of Sister Clara, who put her face into a rose bush and got badly stung. Maybe the translation was lacking. We never see this event, the Nursing Sister asks Suor Angelica for medicine, seeing as the latter is the convent's herbalist. But I think it should be on stage; the whole opera would be livened up by Sister Clara exeunt stage left pursued by a swarm of bees. And I wouldn't have been the most sympathetic nursing sister either;

Nursing Sister: But Sister Clara, how did this happen?

Sister Clara: Cant talk, fayf hurtf.

Nursing Sister: All right, just mime it for me.

Sister Clara: Can't move. Evryfing hurtf.

Nursing Sister: I need to know or I can't prescribe, now can I?

Sister Clara: I put my fayf in a rove bouf. Fkrs ftung me. Ow.

Nursing Sister: Well don't. Don't put your face in bushes, Sister Clara. From now on, just put your fayf in god. Just my little joke there.

Sister Clara: Ow.

Physio yesterday was interesting. Since the TENS thing last week, I spent a few days with a pain free tendon, but weird sharp pains shooting across and under the knee cap on the same leg whenever I tried to go up stairs. It seemed to clear up yesterday morning, but I mentioned it to the physio, who promptly decided my knee needed checking. I told him about an event that happened many decades ago, when my knee just pinged, swole up and after being drained, resulted in my whole leg being in a plaster cast for weeks. They never found anything wrong with it and suggested it might be the tiniest of hairline fractures. 'That'll be arthritis when you're older' said the doc cheerfully. I hope they don't mean now.

Armed with this knowledge, the physio decided that the best thing to do was pull the knee around a bit. Prod prod nothing, poke poke nothing, left to right nothing, right to left nothing, pull the kneecap up nothing, push the kneecap down SOMETHING! Oh, that was a groaning pain, like an echo in a cave! I jumped and used language I am proud to say was restrained under the circumstances, as close to a 'Well don't' as I could manage. The pain died away slowly.

'That shouldn't have hurt at all,' he said.

'I can assure you it did,' I replied, teeth gritted.

'Your achilles tendon is very severely aggravated,' he said.

'Let's not have the knee join it, OK?' I answered, more mildly than it looks when written.

Cue more TENS and more heatpad and an added exercise for the knee. Losing faith in this physio? I tell myself. Well don't.

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

Do they have podiatrists in Scotland?

The issue is that the ankle bone is connected to the leg bone. 😀 So it is quite possible that an old knee injury, affecting the way you have a tendency to bear weight, may be involved in the slow healing of your Achilles tendon.

[smokingboot]

There are podiatrists here, but this physio is what the private consultant recommended to follow up from the cortisone injection, so here I am!

[caddyman]

You might think that what I'm about to write is some kind of josh, but it's not, honest.

I occasionally get pain in my left knee from a tendon I ruptured years ago, and which I could never rest properly, meaning that although it healed, it still likes to swear at me from time to time.

I read somewhere that when going up or down stairs, the thing to do to reduce pressure on the joint is this (and this is the bit you will think I'm joking about): angle your feet so that your toes point slightly outwards, rather than directly forward. Then clench your bum muscles as you walk in what is a slightly ungainly manner as it sounds, up, or down the stairs.

Doing this changes the precise muscles set you're using and takes the strain off the knee joint. Damme if it don't work!

[smokingboot]

Thank you! It sounds, er, odd, but I'll give it a go :-)

[caddyman]

Let me know if it works for you!