Please don't amputate!

Remember how a month ago I posted about my right thigh being sore? I described how I hurt myself last year and apparently re-injured myself. Well, I finally decided to go to a physical therapist. I figured a few weeks’ worth of myofascial release and I’d be good as new. That was the plan, anyway. I went to a local PT and told him, Tony, what happened last year. He did movement with my legs and showed me how much tighter my right thigh/hip is than the left. He did a serious of poking, prodding, and feeling, which resulted in me learning that the area of my right thigh is a lot sorer than I though. (It’s also larger, perhaps from swelling.) Basically I was lying on my side while he put pressure on various spots of my outer leg, starting at the hip, moving down to my knee, then back up. It hurt. He did this on the left side, using more pressure, but it hurt a lot less. Tony was talking to an intern, Becky, all the while, so she was also poking me. At one point they had me lie on my back and were putting pressure on my sacroiliac joint (SI)- basically my lower back. The pressure applied on my right side hurt enough to almost bring tears. The pressure on my left side was not a problem. (Then they proceeded to go back and forth feeling these two areas; not at all pleasant.) Apparently they were feeling a ‘string’ on the right side which wasn’t present on the left. Here’s a picture of what they were poking at.

Tony had Becky and I go to a back room so that she could measure my legs and do a few other things that I guess Tony wasn’t 100% comfortable doing (ok with me). We determined that my left leg is about 1 cm longer than my right. This doesn’t really matter, since it’s such a small difference. Becky then moved on to poke around the hip/groin area. Tony had instructed her to feel the pubis bone and see if it was level. The pubis is the joint in the front of the pelvis where the two halves of the pelvis join. As you can see in the picture below, the joint has two small protrusions. If they aren’t even then it can cause pain.

So, Becky starts applying pressure. The right side felt fine, but the pressure applied to the left side brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know why it hurt so badly, but it did. I asked if that was bad, and she said it wasn’t what she was expecting. Remember, it’s my RIGHT side that is causing discomfort. Of course, she keeps applying pressure, then Tony did after, so today that area is sore like I have a bad bruise. We go back to the main area and Tony instructs me to lie on my back. He puts my right foot on his shoulder and tells me to push hard against him. Then he tells me to relax and basically knees me in the butt. I responded with an, “Oh!” and he said, “Did you feel a pop?” “No, you surprised me!” I said. So we do this once or twice again and then I flip to my stomach. He raises my leg and bends it at the knee, saying to push down on his hand. Then I relax, and he knees me again. I’m not sure why we did this, but it was kind of funny. So, what was accomplished? They think something in my SI has slipped, causing the pain. I have no idea what I did to myself. As for the pubis thing, again, no idea why it hurt so much when the applied pressure. I will be going back three times a week for PT for the next month. They mentioned an ultrasound in passing, so I’m not sure what the plan is. Hopefully I will be fixed!