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Exercise and Muscle Strength
I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but my right leg is significantly less strong than my left in some important ways.
As a simple example, I can't climb stairs with my right leg, so I use my left leg and a banister. Obviously, this can be a real problem if something happens to my left leg.
I've tried to get some help through Kaiser for this, but I haven't gotten past the gatekeeper (primary care). I've gotten some physical therapy for a back problem -- and that back problem may be related.
I was talking with my acupuncturist, and I realized that I'd intended to work with a physical therapist or personal trainer to do exercises for each muscle group and document specifically, with a trained professional, how strong I am left side vs. right side. I need to do that, to get quantitative information.
That way, I can take them to my doc and maybe get some specific help.
There's several specific problems:
1) When I used to ice skate and skated school figures, I always felt like I was going to fall over doing outside right turns (e.g. a 3 turn). I suspect there's some physical structural differences at the hip that lead to that, but I've never been able to get them adequately examined. Ultimately, I'd really like to see some pictures of that joint -- is it malformed? Is it pinching something?
2) My quadriceps are weak. This may be related to the vertebra problem for which I have a handicap placard: that same area can become numb if I stand or walk too long. I can't do this exercise with any added weight on my right leg.
What I'm worried about is that the back injury is bad enough that I could exercise all I wanted and it wouldn't help strengthen the quadricep because the weakness stems from elsewhere. I'm compensating with other muscles, but they're not strong either.
It's also possible that there's some other reason for the muscle weakness.
Apart from 1) documenting the problem; 2) trying to work on strength; 3) trying to see a specialist for specific evaluation (e.g. a neurologist), does anyone have any other ideas of approaches?
As a simple example, I can't climb stairs with my right leg, so I use my left leg and a banister. Obviously, this can be a real problem if something happens to my left leg.
I've tried to get some help through Kaiser for this, but I haven't gotten past the gatekeeper (primary care). I've gotten some physical therapy for a back problem -- and that back problem may be related.
I was talking with my acupuncturist, and I realized that I'd intended to work with a physical therapist or personal trainer to do exercises for each muscle group and document specifically, with a trained professional, how strong I am left side vs. right side. I need to do that, to get quantitative information.
That way, I can take them to my doc and maybe get some specific help.
There's several specific problems:
1) When I used to ice skate and skated school figures, I always felt like I was going to fall over doing outside right turns (e.g. a 3 turn). I suspect there's some physical structural differences at the hip that lead to that, but I've never been able to get them adequately examined. Ultimately, I'd really like to see some pictures of that joint -- is it malformed? Is it pinching something?
2) My quadriceps are weak. This may be related to the vertebra problem for which I have a handicap placard: that same area can become numb if I stand or walk too long. I can't do this exercise with any added weight on my right leg.
What I'm worried about is that the back injury is bad enough that I could exercise all I wanted and it wouldn't help strengthen the quadricep because the weakness stems from elsewhere. I'm compensating with other muscles, but they're not strong either.
It's also possible that there's some other reason for the muscle weakness.
Apart from 1) documenting the problem; 2) trying to work on strength; 3) trying to see a specialist for specific evaluation (e.g. a neurologist), does anyone have any other ideas of approaches?