Of bikes and bods

[shadesofmauve]

I just emailed a cycling/sports bio-mechanic guy in Arizona to ask about people who do the same thing somewhere I could actually get to easily. I know they must exist, but finding someone who's prepared to deal with cycling mechanics -- normally a sports med thing -- AND a host of congenital body mechanics? I don't know where to start.

I've been feeling kind of odd about the physical State of the Skellington, lately. Because of Things On The Internet I've been paying a bit more conscious attention to physical issues, and it inspired a bit of Riki Tiki Tavi*, which is always a dangerous proposition with medical info on the internet. I realized -- briefly -- that there was this whole internet here, and I could find people in my situation and see what they did about shoes.

Then I actually searched, and found that most people talking about limb length discrepancies, especially in cycling situations, were talking in terms of millimeters. I think I'm at around 4 cm, now -- at least, I get my shoes modded to give me an inch and five eighths. Also, none of the people on cycling websites have the other issues, so their advice doesn't work for me.

I'm feeling odd about it because I'm not sure if I'm looking out of actual need. I feel like my knee and hip issues have been worse this year, but sometimes I wonder if it's just that I'm thinking about them more so I notice things. It's easy to convince myself it's hypochondria,** especially when I notice hip pain a lot more right after I read about illotibial band syndrome (which I almost certainly have -- the question is whether I can or should do anything about it. It's been there for years).

I like my doc in general -- he makes jokes about the four humors, how could I not love that? -- but he tends to be a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' kind of guy, and especially where physical fitness is concerned I'd rather look at it in terms of "It's working, but can we make it *better*?" This is especially true of cycling, which has been both the one sport I can really engage in and is how I get to work each day.

I'm thinking of going to the doc for a referral, but I'm leery of that whole explaining-things-to-the-new-doc/finding-the-right-one phase, and of being the person that comes in with random petty stuff. Oh well. Just hurdles.


*The mongoose's motto: "Run and find out!"

**Which is kind of funny with physical differences as visible as mine are, but hey. I've been dealing with it forever; how do I know when I need more help? I DON'T.

Comments

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I've been dealing with it forever; how do I know when I need more help? I DON'T.

It's sometimes frustrating how, with acute things, it's so easy to tell whether we need to go get them fixed or not, but with the chronic things, it's so easy to just get used to it that it becomes very difficult to tell when we've slipped over the line into the realm where "just dealing with it" is no longer sufficient and we need to go do something about it.

And then it gets all recursive. So much frustrating second-guessing.

[shadesofmauve]

Yessss on the recursive frustrated second-guessing.

Usually I think physical stuff is easier to deal with than mental stuff, but of course it does come with it's own mental baggage, and it's own set of assumptions. If I talked to my old surgeon right now, he'd be thrilled -- I am hands down a huge success case! But from my point of view my knee hurts, my hip hurts, and I know there's stuff I could do or docs could do that would make it better than 'okay.'

But then, guilt, because man, shouldn't I be HAPPY to be doing as well as I am?

The sports-med people understand that you want to be better-than-okay, but they don't have the background in non physio-typical bodies.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think it's more that the physical and the mental are different to deal with than that one is easier than the other. I was trying to decide earlier, and kept going back and forth as factors one way or the other kept coming to mind.

[shadesofmauve]

I suppose the real lesson there is "Why do we care that one is harder or not?" It's not a competition, but it's so, so easy to fall into "Ze has it harder/easier than me" about everything. Even when we try to avoid it we do it -- I'll catch myself thinking "Why should x person help me with my bike issue when so many people are worse off..." or stuff like that.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I guess I think a lot about whether Mental or Physical is harder just because I'm dealing with both, and have them right there for ready comparison. And being a geek, I like to categorize things ;)

Also, it looks like it's possible to fall into Frustrating Recursive Second-Guessing on pretty much any angle of this :P