Outside of Knee Pain

Oh dear...

I was fine this morning, went for a run, didn't overdo it, in fact ran 1/3 less distance, but a bit faster than my normal pace, felt good, pottered around home for a few hours... then walked down the hill into town, oh my... as I started down the hill the pain on the left side of my knee was not pleasant! I sort of shook it out a bit... okay, but not really. It was better once I was on the flat again and I cadged a lift back home, walking around is fine, but as soon as I put any pressure on going down a slope I feel it. It's on my left, funny leg, side.

This does not feel good :(

Somehow managed to get an appointment with a half-doctor tomorrow evening... okay not a fully qualified doc, but with a bit of luck they might be able to tell me exactly what is causing it so I can fix it. I figured this was a better option than waiting *three weeks* for an appointment with a full-doctor.

<rant>I cancelled my appointment with the, and I have now found out the correct term, 'Advanced Practitioner'.

I called the health clinic to try and find out what the scope of the service was and quite frankly it left me feeling very nervous about the whole thing. It's a long way to travel and there is a very poor outlook. The receptionist couldn't even tell me if this person had the authority to refer me for physio, or actually tell me anything about them at all, it seems like some random people turn up and use the health clinic facilities and the staff there know nothing about them - whatsoever. Taking 4 hours out of my day to go and see someone where there seems to be a very slim chance they may be able to help me is not happening.

It's terrifying just how bad the NHS has got recently. It is being driven into the ground, no appointments for weeks on end, staff who know nothing, then when you do actually get to see a doc it's vagueness and most of all a tangible fear of making any kind of diagnosis, the most common question seems to be "well what do you think it is?" What?! You're the doctor, aren't you supposed to tell me what's wrong?! Then they say things like they are "only able to follow the NICE guidelines". I questioned this and basically they can't use their own resources, intellect, knowledge, etc. for fear of litigation, it's just awful. This is the third time in a row now (3 times over the last 5 years or so) I have had poor experiences with the NHS. I am now at the point where I think it is just a total waste of time and I may as well just accept that I am going to have to go private. It goes against all my principles but I am going look into health care plans I think because this is just a joke.

The only thing they do seem keen on is prescribing statins. That they will do with enthusiastic confidence in stark contrast to everything else.
</rant>

Anyway, now I have got that off my chest, I have booked in with a private physio who knows about running and sports stuff. Totally different experience, the person I spoke to knew exactly what I was on about and seemed confident that they could help and gave me an appointment within a few days.

Roll on Thursday.

For the record, I have absolutely no knee pain at all today, everything seems fine, I can wiggle around balancing on one leg, nothing, not the faintest hint of anything being wrong at all. I am going to do my run tomorrow as planned. See how that goes hey :)

Oh wait, within minutes of looking it seems that private health care still involves having to see a GP - which is the problem I am trying to get around! So this too seems a bit pointless... :(

Hi DM,

I saw on another thread you're based in Hebden Bridge. I believe Ali Mills is supposed to be a really good local physiotherapist but I personally recommend Michael Murray (MM Physiotherapy) in Todmorden. You may have to wait a while to get an appointment with him and he isn't cheap but he is brilliant. He helped meget from really overweight with dodgy hips and wonky legs to 'have a go at anything' fell runner. i'd seen 2 other physiotherpists when i lived in Manchester and they just gave me the usual arbitrary exercises and i got nowhere with it whereas Michael went completely against what other physio's had advised, stripped it back to the beginning in which he identified the biomechanic issues i was having and then built from there with each session as a progression.

Now I still visit him once a month just to keep any niggles at bay to stop them developing into anything serious.

To the max fitness in Hebden bridge is also a really great strength and conditioning coach and a really nice guy and recently taken up a bit of fell running himself.

Hey ponte_ricky, thanks again!!

I found Julie Lomax:

http://caldertherapies.co.uk/physiotherapy/

She seems to have a good reputation too and when we spoke on the phone I got a good impression, she sounded confident.

If that doesn't work out then I will check out these other suggestions - thank you :)

Just had a great chat with Max - seems like a lovely chap!

I am going to seriously consider a programme with him, not cheap, but absolutely not expensive either when you think about what you are getting, I think some proper face to face guidance and training could be an excellent investment especially with my funny foot. It would be good to make sure I am doing everything right and not just setting myself up for more injury.

First of all some really good news - my knee is fine!!

Julie Lomax was great, I felt very well looked after and it's looking like I damaged some ligaments in my knee, but not as a result from running per se. it looks like more like it was an 'accident'. There are a few things I can think of that it might have been, but I guess I will never know for sure.

Anyway, the take away is that I am in pretty good shape all things considered - I feel good :)