I swear my ACL surgery was the start of all my health problems. My right leg is a little over 1" shorter than my left leg now. I wear an 1" sole in my right shoe and it helps.
I've only known this for about 6 months. I think this was either the cause or a factor of tearing my left hip labrum, which I had surgery for last year. The surgery wasn't bad, but the hip is a weird joint and the pain comes and goes.
After my surgery, my left lower back started hurting. It's progressively gotten worse. My doc tried to get me MRIs for it last November, but my insurance denied it until I did something like 8 things of physical therapy (conveniently cause my deductible was paid as well as my out of pocket.) I did physical therapy twice, couldn't walk afterwards.
The last 3 months my lower back pain, left hip, left glute, left thigh, has gotten to be nearly unbearable. Somedays I can barely stand up, lay down, etc, but I've learned to live with it.
I called my new insurance company this year and they approved an MRI. Had the MRI and went to the follow up. I have 2 slightly bulging discs (pretty normal for my age) and on disc that's bulging pretty good as well as a pinch on my sciatic nerve. My doc barely went over my MRI and said to get a cortisone shot.
I was on the fence about getting the shot. I've had one in my upper back about 6 years ago and it worked for about a week. Anyway, I scheduled it and went in to get it this morning. I was concerned about what my doc went over was the cause of my pain because he made it seem like it wasn't that bad.
I had the shot done at a different place from my doc cause his surgery center is out of network. When I got there this morning I was hurting pretty bad and was really still. I could barely stand up straight. When the brought me back to the table, they asked me if I had any questions. I told them my concerns if my back not being the issue and it might be my hip - possibly sacriotic joint dysfunction. I told them the doc was pretty nonchalant in my follow up. They told me that they were certain my pain was caused from my back and showed me my MRI. It was clear as day I had a ruptured disc and pinched nerve. I'm not sure why my doc made it seem like not a big deal.
It made me feel better about getting the shot. The gave it to me and I immediately felt better. I'm still stiff and still have pain, but it's probably 60 to 70% better. I hope it lasts for a while.
Has anyone had good experiences with cortisone shots? My concern is it's just a bandaid and not a permanent solution for my back and hip.