Skeletal Abnormalities

[kiya]

Apparently, I have about a half-inch more right shoulder than left shoulder.

And nobody noticed before this evening.

(Maybe this is why my left shoulder joint is fucked up, eh?)

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't surprise me to eventually learn that I have all kinds of skeletal weirdness going on. I already have a couple of joints that move in ways they're not supposed to.

[kiya]

I was diagnosed with mild scoliosis in ... fourth grade, so age ... eight? My mother says her bad hips are related to her scoliosis; I also have bad hips.

So I am inclined to blame my general asymmetry on whatever caused that (aside from 'bones hit growth spurt before muscles ... yoink!', which was how it was explained to me as a child).

Never before has having an icon keyworded 'bone' been more apropos.

[ardaniel]

If it's higher than the other shoulder, maybe one of your legs is longer than the other? I've got a mild case of that and they custom-fit me for orthotics to ameliorate it when I was in high school.

(My current ow is the only-discovered-about-four-years-ago cranial deformity that gives me wacky-assed TMJ.)

[mindways]

Huh. What's the discrepancy? And what sort of orthotics did they use? I have a similar issue, and datapoints on treatment->effect would be useful.

[ardaniel]

Among other issues, one of my legs (I don't recall which one) is about a half-inch shorter than the other. I have exceptionally low arches, to the point of being flat-footed, and I'd been running track the wrong way for a full semester of school...

...which separated my calf muscles from my shins in lots and lots of places. The worst shin splints any human being has ever had, basically. Throw in some weird problem with the calf muscles themselves that had them constricting painfully on any sort of exertion, and, yeah. The sports medicine doctor had his book of Pre-Written Get Out Of Gym Forever Notes out within 15 minutes of the appointment starting.

Fortunately, I could still hobble at a reasonable pace, and my pain wasn't as bad as it probably should've been, so I got to skip Serious Interventions-- although they threatened to put me in a wheelchair if I even so much as ran to class. They did give me stern advice on better shoes and pretty much required me to wear good, supportive running shoes (there were overpronation issues involved in my running style) at all times. I went out and got a pair of Asics while I was waiting for the orthotics appointment, and they helped.

I went to a specialized prosthetic/ orthotics shop (my parents' insurance covered it) and they custom-molded my feet, analyzed my stance and gait and so on, took a lot of measurements, and carved out a set of full inserts to replace the ones in my sneakers. They were thick brown ridged foam things with inner layers of other sorts of foam; they were pretty warm to wear, and you have to have shoes that will accomodate them without smashing your foot against the top of the shoe, especially if you're using them to level out a discrepancy in leg length.

That being said, after a half-year or so on those and not running and not taking gym class, I felt a hell of a lot better. My legs can still be problematic, but nowhere near as bad as they were. I'm pondering, should I ever have health insurance again, getting another set made to see if it'll take the edge off my occasional bout of back pain.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Whenever they did scoliosis screenings in school, I'd get called back three or four times so they could squint at me more. No diagnosis, but I figure there must be something kinda weird going on.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

One of my legs is half an inch to an inch shorter than my other leg. My opposite shoulder dips half an inch or more than my other shoulder. Whee!

[jenniology.livejournal.com]

o_O That's strange. But then, I have one leg that's slightly longer than the other (and this seems to have appeared in fairly recent years), so I have weird stuff going on too.

[thtrelady.livejournal.com]

My ribcage is put on at a slight angle thus making one shoulder a little bit higher than the other. Doctors love me.