And I have believed that for a while now. Last Monday night I suddenly awoke due to a sharp pain behind my left kneecap (yes, of all places). I had experienced some pain earlier in the evening but it had somehow escalated while I was asleep. It came and went for a few minutes and I kept twisting my leg around hoping to find some relief until I finally tucked my left leg in under my thigh and the husband gave me a Biogesic (my only go-to pain reliever). Not sure if it was the medicine but I finally fell asleep again.
I asked my PT bro about it and he advised me to have it checked up ASAP which I did the day after. After my knees were examined by the Ortho and a few routine questions answered, he came up with the conclusion that my bones are probably shaped a little differently than normal (that’s totally brand new information! *sarcastic tone*).
I felt like I was back at the Philippine Orthopedic Institute all over again. You see, a few years ago, I was experiencing extreme pain right where the arm meets the shoulders. I turns out my shoulder bone was digging into my tissues when I do any overhead activity (I had been engaged in playing badminton a few times before the pain started) – because the tip of the bone had an incline instead of it being straight. I had to do some exercises to develop my rotator cuffs so they act as cushions.
“Di ka abnormal, ha?” My doctor told me. These were the exact same words the ortho from those years ago used to assure me that I was normal. “You’re just a little to the left of normal.”
Naluha ako. I’ve always been insecure about my bones and this was yet another proof that they are weak and I will grow old with some kind of bone problem and wouldn’t be able to walk properly.
He explained that the pain that I felt behind the knee was a result of some tissue being caught in between my kneecap and the bone as the former moved. He believes that the base of my bones did not have the concave features that are supposed to cushion the tissues, and my abnormally-shaped kneecap just kept sliding to the right because women’s outer thigh muscles are generally stronger than the inner ones and thus tend to pull my kneecap to the side, with the tissues getting caught in the process.
To make the long story short, abnormal nga ako. I now need to make sure that my workstation at home has just the right leg room so my knees do not bend at an angle less than 90 degrees, and I have to strengthen my inner thigh muscles by walking around with a basketball between my legs for a few minutes each day.
So not only do I have to baby my shoulders now, but my knees as well. Great!
*rant over*