Kinections Sports Injury Treatment and updates

 I had four consecutive nights of pain waking me up from my sleep.  Usually around 3A.M.  I have gotten up and massaged, iced, heated, and rearranged the affected body parts, my lower back and hip.  Returning back to sleep has been difficult, and I have resorted to medication and even an ocean sounds CD.  Desperation!  This is a follow up note about sports injury treatment.
Disclaimer:  Your medical concerns should be addressed by a medical professional first and foremost.  Ruling out more serious conditions  should be one's primary focus.  I wrote about a whole process of ruling out, trying recommended treatments, and finally, this measure for relief.  I am a hiker and backpacker and not a medical professional.  Check references and research therapies before choosing your own course. 
Finally my appointment at Kinections, 1221 S Street in downtown Sacramento, with Lino Cedros, arrived.  (The number is(916-441-5094).  In 15 minutes, the knot in my middle back to my left, was gone, completely gone.  The frozen hip that has been pesky for a couple of years despite faithful physical therapy and medication felt better, though not cured.  I can tell it will return in a day or two, but none the less, it is relieved for now. 
My knee is amazing.  No work on it today and despite my hiking the American River Canyon recently, it did not flare up for the first time in over a year and a half!  Not a tiny twinge of pain!  My hiking companions can tell you how much trouble that has been for me and that in the last few months I had to turn back twice because of it acting up!  Not since my visits to Lino began,  (three visits)  have I had any trouble with my knee despite climbing and descending trails and hiking rocky tread. 
My groin muscles tightened up again four days ago for some reason I cannot pinpoint, but today I got relief in just a couple of minutes for that too.  Walking into work the hour after my appointment, I felt so much better.  Not 100%, but better again, than after months of fairly intensive physical therapy and related care.  I drive a stick shift, bummer for hip troubles, and that nagged me on the way to work.  Needle-like pain.  But I am sitting comfortably in a work chair that has been impossible for weeks. 
I am sure I will need more help with the hip.  Lino gave me advise on my climbing technique, and Ken helps me remember to flex my knees when traveling on downhill trails.  Between us, I hope to achieve 100% movement again, but the work for me is to replace poor steep up and downhill habits because my less young body is not as resilient and is more easily injured, and it gets harder to recover. 
I don't typically review products or services, but in this case, I hope hikers seek sources of healing and care that are healthier and in this case, quicker and easier!!!  Kinections is always happy, helpful and respectful. 
If the only accomplishment were my knee being more hill friendly, it would be enough to write home about (or in this case, blog about).
I wish you the best in care and hiking/backpacking!  Happy Trails! 
http://www.kinections.com/

Hiking the Old Rubicon Trail from Ellicott Bridge to the South Fork of the Rubicon River, June 2011.

Thusrday, June 30th, 2011 UPDATE:
I am thrilled to say that all of the activities I have posted (and those not posted), I have been able to complete each without the knee brace or support!  Let me share a tiny pointer that Lino gave me.  He suggested I watch my posture going uphill and downhill.  I sort of snickered to myself as I am not known at all for slumping over, for the backpack or anything else, but since that day, I have paid minute attention to my footfalls and posture while hiking.  I discovered a tiny tendency to lean uphill-ward almost imperceptibly, but minor adjustments on that caused me to feel a very subtle and still noticeable difference in my back, knees and feet feeling good.  I also remembered Lino mentioning that it would be a good idea to be sure I am keeping my core solid and my rear and quads taking the weight (less impact to my knees that way).  I devoted my gait to trying to keep that perfect back position you look for and hopefully find when you are working out or doing yoga, and to firmly planting my feet so that my steps reflected my at home exercises like lunges.  I try to keep those moves very controlled, not just quick bouncy type movements.  So watch your gait on the hills, ladies especially, to avoid inflexible knees, leaning too far into the hill as you hike, and really feel those quads on your hike.  It may feel like more work but at the end of the day, you feel better and ache less!  It is also cheaper to do it all right and avoid medical fees!  haha.  This is the first time I have been able to feel such subtle adjustment needs, so it is a real victory for me!  Thanks again Lino!
Happy Trails!

September 10, 2011 UPDATE
On our trip through the Trinity Alps Coffee Creek area, I did use knee wraps for support on a couple of difficult areas to prevent injury, but I am joyfully reporting that after that 40 miles of steep terrain did not damage or reinjure my knees.  I took it slower than I liked, but wisely.

Today I hiked Training Hill In Auburn, CA, but had to seriously limit my use of my left hiking pole due to a recent shoulder injury.  I realized that another pointer Lino gave me was left out in the notes above.  I mentioned placing my feet firmly on the ground, purposefully, but another hiker bad habit can be to slightly turn your foot one way or another to compensate for steep grades.  This stresses the ligaments and muscles around the knee.  Traversing across steep areas is great rather than turning your toes inward or outward to handle the ascents and descents.  My knee didn't get the use of the knee brace, but with careful steps is fine tonight. You too may notice more and more improvement in your joints following this advice. 
As always, consult a professional for your own fitness management and injury prevention.   Everyone is unique and I hope most that we all hike longer and better!!

Peachy Hiker's Table of Contents

Again, Happy Trails!

Sports Injuries

A garden of Eden at the top of Horsetail Falls 2009

     Several years ago I was in chronic pain, the kind and severity that kept me up at night.  My foot was diagnosed with a neuroma, and the recommended treatment was cortisone shots into the foot.  After getting shots every few months, the pain continued to the point that walking, hiking, and at times, even sitting, became so severe that a shooting pain would nearly take me to the ground; it was searing and disabling!  The only choice presented to me was to have it surgically removed, so I did.  Guess what!!! The pain did not stop!  A neuroma is scar tissue that develops on a compressed nerve, and the podiatrist explained that the pain I still felt was "phantom limb pain"!  Go figure.  What then I wondered, was the point of surgery?  What was the benefit?  I still walked off kilter, rolled my foot away from the surgical area, and continued to cause myself knee and back problems!  Sleep problems.  And as an avid hiker and active lady, my life was quite disrupted too.

What a mess...but still hiking.

     Later down the road of life, I developed knee problems, no stranger to the hiking community, huh?  My symptoms got worse and worse, also causing sleeplessness from severe pain and offers for medication.  Finally I was sent to physical therapy for a "tendon injury" and asked to stop my hikes for around 6 weeks.  I had difficulty with that, and continued to have problems with my knee pain.  Boulder scrambles were becoming more unrealistic.  I succumbed to the physical therapist's recommendations and let my hiking rest for what came to be several restless months.  I went faithfully to therapy 2-3 times weekly, but then they referred me back to a surgeon, stating the fluid was not going away and my knee was not getting better. 
     Along with copays for therapy, they also told me to invest in various training equipment, new hiking boots, then told me get bigger hiking boots, then even told me to get BIGGER hiking boots (get real folks, your boots HAVE to fit your foot or they will just let your foot slide around in there and get blistered!) Oh, and orthodics...about $100 more.  Before the surgeon got to me the knee settled down enough to resume some hiking and though not without pain, it was possible, and I did complete the Tahoe Rim Trail and other forestry hikes.

     The doctors never helped me and with research I have done on my own, I wish I had known then what I know now about the possible outcomes of neuroma surgery, and cortisone shots: 

• Statistics vary but as many as 20% don't have satisfactory results. 
• Cortisone can break down important support tissue that can lead to fractures of those little bones in your foot! 
• Then there are issues about not having a nerve in your foot if you are a hiker, and the potential for a septic infection (from a blister that forms without you realizing it) which is a dangerous possibility on a through hike. 
• The phantom limb syndrome was not explained before surgery either and since I experienced that instead of pain relief,
• I only ended up with a two inch long scar on the top of my foot (not pretty in sandles) and  with increased risks to my foot.
• One other issue is that neromas can return anyway!  Mine did when I kicked a dumbell and sprained my foot causing my foot tissue to protect itself with more internal scar tissue....logical, but who knew? 

 If you haven't had surgery and have a neuroma, do some research and think twice about that as a viable answer.

The return hike from our Horsetail Falls backpacking trip in 2009

     The first day of this latest problem with my leg began with a normal in-house workout that included typical hiker training, including lunges, squats, some yoga postures, and weights.  The following day I went through the neighborhood doing my fast walk and included some uphill and downhill work at a nearby levee, then alternated walking and jogging along the river.  There was normal soreness from a decent workout on the third day, but the misfortune for me was that I got assigned a job of sitting or standing in a very small area for the whole shift.  My chair was a little fold up metal one.  Hours of stillness and I was in excrutiating pain with no way out until the end of the day. My hip, knee and foot became serious enough, pain-wise, I could not even carry my lunch bag and book bag to my car after work.  Thankfully my friends did it for me.  The stairs at home were nearly impossible!   I "rolled out" on a cylinder, tried to do some yoga poses that often help me, took some motrin and iced.  I slept, but with interruptions from pain.  I decided I had to do something more proactive for myself and this nagging problem.

      My favorite person to spend time with (Ken) referred me to his "near-miracle worker for sports injuries"  in downtown Sacramento and my first visit was today.  "Lino" watched me walk after a very brief medical overview and told me so much about myself!  Amazing!  He identified the problems as going from my foot to my knee, hip then back, not the reverse.  Agreed.  I have been saying to friends that I felt like I was walking wrong (dating all the way back to the original neuroma).  With the new lumps in my foot, my step has gotten more dysfunctional, and shoe inserts and bigger shoes are NOT the answer.  But Kinetics?
     Let me tell you:
Lino spent about 5 minutes massaging my foot, painfully I must add, though it was not mentioned in my list of complaints for going there.  Then...

 Lino had me walk around....I wish I could explain how astounded you can be over something feeling right for the first time in years! 

I was honestly amazed at what those few painful minutes accomplished for me.  Lino worked a minor miracle! 

He disputed my earlier diagnoses of knee injury and explained his view of the original injury, a torn meniscus.   Still not so sure I agree with that after researching it vs the tendon.

     In addition my hip had gotten so extremely constricted over this last week that I could not even sit "indian style" anymore, much less do groin stretches of any kind.  He pushed hard somewhere on my mid outer thigh (I think I bolted it hurt so much) and then he did a couple of range of motion type manipulations of my hip. He also did some work on two other small points and I am again astounded with the amount he freed up that mess! 

The view from the top of Horsetail Falls on our 2009 backpacking trip.

     I want hikers to be pain free and prepared for challenges.  Our hiking poles are part of our heart and soul, not to be put away or tampered with!  Our boots need to fit, and our step corrected within our body, not just a mass manufactured shoe insert, avoiding focusing on our bodies mechanics working properly and functionally. 

The fine print:

I feel obligated to write a waiver that you alone are ultimately responsible for your medical choices, for informing yourself before making decisions about your care, and include a reminder that I am not a doctor, but a hiker.  My experience being shared is to make you aware of alternate suggestions and of some things that happened to me, effecting my ability to hike and backpack.  Again, I encourage you to ask many questions, make no assumptions, and learn your real options before agreeing to any treatment.

Kinections for Sports Injuries   I am not being given anything for this post, or for adding the link for this business.  This comes from a desperate hiker who sought and found relief and a surgery free return to the trails!

A reader commented today and caused me to review this note. Thank you, by the way! 
     Let me update you.  It is October, 2012 and I am still an avid hiker, occasionally (rarely) using a knee support for safety sake.  I wear boots made for backpacking and good hiking socks, hiking poles still always on hand.  I have not had surgery for any of the above, fortuantely for me, and with precautions, I enjpy hiking up mountains and down iinto canyons!  My best advice is to get second opinions, maybe one from some alternative source like Lino or other sports injury specialist. Demand it.  Many docotors and physical therapists do not understand, despite education, what we put ourselves through and that we can often be healed without surgery and major drug interventions.  And repeating myself, MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS.  Doctors do this a lot and don't realize things they leave out could alter our decisions for treatment.  My body is my responsibility.

 Healthy Hiking and Happy Trails!

Peachy Hiker's Table of Contents

Trails By Locations

Updated October 2012