Oh dear. Apparently, my injured brain may be to blame for my hip pain.

[Flumptious]

I just went to see Mike the physio, about this hip pain. It was due to running, and after more than a year of physic, I had an operation, more than 16 months ago. I have not recovered from that, and still have a lot of pain walking (or sitting down/standing up, or TBH, just all the time), and I can't really run. It is only the third time I've seen him (as both the previous physios moved to other hospitals).

He said he hadn't looked that carefully at the history of my problem to begin with, as he just took what the previous girls had said, and carried on the same as they had.

But it is definitely not working. So today, he wanted to talk about my brain injury, and the effects it has had. He had me walking up and down the corridor, and he said that I am a bit lopsided. I wasn't aware of that, but my husband says "Oh, yes!" He thinks that may have originally caused the trocantheric bursitis, which led to the operation, and has caused my failure to recover.

He has told me to continue with the same exercises and roller-work for a couple of weeks, and he will look into this in more detail. He says that maybe I will need a walking stick. He said that shouldn't be for too long, and it would be to sort out the hip problem, and fix my lop-sided-ness.

Apparently, I should go to the gym, but maybe split cycling and rowing (but not use the steppers or slidey-things). TBH, I am a bit sick of only using the cycle, so I am pleased about this!

Hubby says that if I know I am not walking straight, we can work on fixing it, and make it go away. He sees this "It's your brain, stupid!" * diagnosis to be a good thing, but I find it really depressing. I didn't realise my brain injury is more noticable to other people than to me. I mean, I can 'see' my blindness, which others can't (most of the time, anyway - sometimes I walk straight into people in crowded places ), and I can hear my horrible voice, which is definitely not the way it used to be, but I thought it sounded OK for other people, now. But the physio says he can definitely hear it. This depresses me a bit. I don't like being noticeably brain-injured (actually, 'noticeably brain-damaged' sounds more accurately the way I feel right now) - I don't want it to be so obvious to others.

* No, Mr Physio was very very polite about it, *he* didn't say that phrase, but in this situation, it seems right.

[Kirk5w7]

I know what you mean by not wanting other people to notice, I have a slight lisp since which I notice probably more than others, my husband says he doesn't but the ATOS assessment picked it up.

I think I probably just look like someone getting older and more debilitated now, not my image of me at all!!!

[Negeen]

Maybe it could be an opportunity to educate people. As undermined as brain injury awareness is, maybe you could use your plight for good.

[sospan]

I know where your coming from. Amongst other things, I have "mid-line shift syndrome" where when I stand up and lean forward and to the left, when I sit down I lean to the left.

I used to walk with a crutch and trail one arm along walls or fences for support and to get feed back on where I was relative to everything else. This made my walk even more lop sided. It was a vision specialist that pointed out the arm thing I didn't even realise I was doing it.

Once it was pointed out to me I made a conscious effort to not do it and then worked on not using the cane. I am now walking more upright (sound like an ape ) and keep on working on it. The only consequence is that is takes an awful lot of brain power to concentrate on doing it. Sometimes its like walking like a cat walk model - heal toe, head up, chest out, not too much wiggle ....

[cat3 in reply to sospan]

I like the ape reference. It would be so much easier to walk on all fours but difficult with carrying the shopping, and not a good look.

And I agree about the effort involved in correcting one's gait...........I find the

concentration as exhausting as the walking. But I went out late last night to post a letter and, as the streets were deserted, I didn't correct myself. I'm sure that's bad practice but oh.......... the feeling of freedom !

Good luck with the gym Flump. x

[Stardrop]

I didn't realise that I walked 'funny' until a retired elderly care nurse followed me up the high street and when I stopped she asked me if I'd had a stroke because of my 'gait'. She said I was dragging my right leg slightly. I've seen several physio's, all giving different exercises. I use the ones that work. The 'clam' was the only one they all gave me.

[Negeen in reply to Stardrop]

Do you still drag it?

[Stardrop in reply to Negeen]

I don't lift my foot as high as I think I have and can trip easily, and my shoe wears down on the outside. I don't notice it unless the foot starts hurting, although I frequently walk into the person walking by my side.

[Negeen in reply to Stardrop]

Wow stardrop that's tough to live with. Kudos to you!

[RogerCMerriman]

Once tired I start to zombie walk, quite often I only notice as I notice folks watching me.

And since my balance partically if I'm attempting to crouch or lift from kneeling, is poor my legs can start to ache, often around the hips. Since it's fairly ungainly and I'm tall and heavy.