I thought id throw in all of my crippled body problems here as i really am getting poor healthcare treatment and they don’t want to help me, along with that I’ll put in some photos in case my posture is sub-par, although i don’t feel it’s terrible and responsible for my body feeling as though it’s falling apart.
First off, im 19 years old.
I have had blood tests, no rheumatoid arthritis, vitamin D was low - had supplements for that, iron and platelets were low, but was given some iron supplements for that too recently.
All Ive been doing recently is soft tissue work + mobility and flexibility work, i have read a ton of the articles here on T-Nation as you can imagine with my spare time, which i have taken off from training for at least 3-4 months now, it’s getting beyond a joke.
I think I’ll start from head to toe, putting them into sections, as it is literally my hold body, and some of you may only be interested in certain parts, before i get going id like to apologize as it’s going to be a lengthy post as you can imagine.
HEAD/NECK - Chronic Neck pain for about the last 4 or 5 months, in my cervical spine, going into the base of my skull. No idea what has caused it, but it’s incredibly painful and messes up my day to day activity. Even sitting here is causing incredible pain. I have had 2 clear x-rays of my cervical spine, so the doctors have taken no action and told me nothing further, it won’t get better with just rest, it’s been too long for that.
I have done what i can to improve my posture, including sleeping with just one pillow, specifically to better my posture, even for this i have bought a memory foam pillow which should help support my cervical curve. When laying down on the pillow though, after a while of laying on my back of my head it hurts and i have to turn it to the sides.
UPPER BACK/SHOULDERS - Big troubles here, some affected movements;
Skipping/Jump Rope - Shoulder aches - unable to continue after a few minutes.
Overhead Pressing with a barbell - Aches in my shoulder all over, dumbbells with a neutral grip seem ok.
Dips - Feel these in mostly my shoulder blades.
Day to day activities like using a hammer my shoulders will ache.
I don’t know with this one, i have recently been doing more thoracic mobility work with a foam roller, a lot of the pain is at the AC joints i think? Near where my upper arm connects, feels like a tiny ball i can feel on the base of my clavicle’s. Have been working on stretching pec minor, low trap and middle + rhomboid activation/strengthening, but nothing seems to be working enough.
Something else to mention is in the past when i was doing overhead presses and front squats, in my upper back region it would feel SO stiff, almost as though it needs to be cracked into place. Maybe keeping up the throacic mobility may help with improvements, i feel the shoulders are tied in with the neck pain though, as i can feel my spine raised to the surface and coming up from my shoulder blades, yet when it gets to the neck it hurts the most.
LEFT ELBOW PAIN OUTTER AND INNER - Basically if i were to carry anything, say my young brother, which would require my elbows to be bent, my left elbow will hurt, from the inner part, which is related to the bicep tendon if im not mistaken? But if i were to bend my elbow through a full range of motion and once the arm is fully extended, i’ll hear a “snap” once it’s locked.
I know joint clicks/cracks if not associated with pain are usually fine, but this does bring pain, at least tenderness. An example is sometimes in the past, apon waking up in the morning, i find it hard to fully extend that elbow, and i have to really push it to let it extend, after doing so it’ll be tender, now the inner part of the elbow is really hurting, and i only did 10 clapping push ups - which i hardly ever do anyways as i haven’t been training much at all lately.
Where i have some shoulder issues, clavicle pain, but it’s on both sides, so if it were a rupture of bicep tendon or something similar, surely my whole shoulders wouldn’t be affected and it would be the left side only. Could it be the muscle is pulling on the tender or such? My right elbow doesn’t click when i fully extend the arm, only on some moves like presses, but it’s not associated with pain that i notice.
Low Back/Pelvic - Treatment is on the way, SOME PROGRESS i feel, i feel i have SIJ pain/dysfunction. Happened since last October during physical work, must of over done it. A useful doctor i was seeing who is no longer there did a physical exam and within 2 sessions Ive been referred to physiotherapy and an MRI just to rule out anything else. Doctors i see now won’t do nothing. So i have an MRI on saturday for my lumbar + sacral regions. And a physiotherapy appointment in a month - god they are slow.
KNEESS - This is by far the most hardest complex problem i have and i have had it for years, i think i got some rough ideas on what it is, despite what the doctors think, but i’ll get to that soon. Basically since i was about 15 i noticed the backs of my knees used to keep hurting occasionally, i remember once jumping off the sofa and one had hurt, just simple stuff like that, it made no sense. It’s the tendons at the back of both knees, i think hamstring related - semimembranosus i believe it to be.
The inner portions of the backs of my knees. It didn’t bother me much, just occasionally, now however it is on a far different level and really unbearable. You see Ive had this for years, i just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be living off of ibuprofen which doesn’t seem to do much for me anyways. My knees hurt so bad that i can’t even walk that well now. I was asked to help tidy up the garden, but i just have to sit down, my knees are killing me, the tendons that connect to the inner part at the posterior part of my knee, unbearable.
More recently too the front of my knees hurt, i think related to pattelaforma syndrome or something along those lines. The quad tendon hurts which makes everything else that much worse - both knees.
I feel it’s definitely originating from the back of the knees though, some suggestions i have had are;
Lowered medial arch of foot - not sure, although i can see myself im not flat footed.
Inflammed tendon of adductors
Possible irritation to sartorius, semi-tendinosus. Weakness may be VMO. Those areas over worked
Pes Anerserius bursitis?
If i, climb up stairs, run, walk, cycle, anything like that, the front of my knee will feel the affects aswell as the back of my knees. If i were to do a squat to stand mobility drill - it’s just impossible. On the ascend from the bottom the backs of my knees feel like they’re getting ripped apart and the pain is just unbearable.
Some things to note are that the yoga dog pose feels really good on the backs of my knees, the windmill mobility drill from MM also does. Another thing, during certain hamstring stretches, my knee feels as though it vibrates? Not sure if that’s the right word, but not stable, and almost as if there is little movement.
When i asked a doctor to do a physical exam, she told me to roll my trousers up, looked at just my right knee for a few seconds, touched it for litreally a second and gave me some Piroxicam Gel which doesn’t really help either.
Something i must bring up aswell with the knees, although the pain is in BOTH knees, my right knee is significantly worse, a few months ago i couldn’t even straighten it at all. The physiotherapist said the hamstring tendon was tight, gave me some stretches, it got a bit better, but even now i can’t straighten it without discomfort, i noticed this occuring when i was doing some push ups one day - doesn’t make sense to me.
So the current plan is to get an x-ray of both knees, i don’t see how this is personally going to help and why the NHS would waste money on expensive x-rays when they could just send me to someone specialized in that area such as an orthopedic surgeon and do some real physical exams and palpation - much easier answer surely? Not to mention x-ray results take at least 3 weeks, so slow.
Ok and lastly,
Ankles - Bear in mind this is only real recent. I noticed it about a month ago when i was woken up by my SIJ pain, i had to walk it off somehow, i went for a walk and about 20minutes in my ankles were killing me around the heel - achilles tendon.
I thought surely i don’t have Achilles tendinitis as that’s usually from overuse and i hadn’t been doing much running at all prior to the pain. Now i can’t walk anywhere without the pain occuring within 5-10minutes, also the part where the foot connects to the lower leg, the area during dorsiflexion, also hurts and is stiff at times, even now sitting here. I feel i can’t win, if i try to move about it hurts, if i sit down it hurts.
So what am i to do? Im really lost and worried, seeing as im young, and i don’t have any ideas where these problems have arised from, the only one that Ive had for years is the knee issue, could all these problems be tied in or what? I have been doing strengthening exercises for my upper back, and a lot of mobility and soft tissue work for the rest of my body the past few months, no real changes though.
Please if you have any information for any body part, let us know, i can throw in even more info if needed but id be lucky enough to get anyone read this amount of text as it is.
Lastly, incase it helps, thought id attach some photos of my posture;
