Unestable Left Ankle

Hi,

I have posterior left pelvis tilt (my back is quite flat) and my left hamstring is very tight. I have sciatic pain in my left leg, and I do piriformis stretch, which helps. I work sat down in an office all day long.

The gastrocnemius muscle at the backback of my left knee is also tight. I also have pain in the arch of my left foot, heel and in the medial malleolus, and the left ankle makes noises at the front. Also I have pain when I bend it a lot. I have two ossicles.

I have the impression that everything is part of the same problem.

Moreless I can manage my pelvis but I'm worried about my pain in the left foot. Any idea of what I have? Stretching the heel reduces the ankle pain.

Thanks,

Larry

Hell. You state posterior left pelvis tilt? I assume you mean some form of pelvis dysfunction. 2nd you state having tightness of Hamstrings, Gastrocnemius, Piriformis and Sciatic symptoms. Well actually the tightness you feel os the muscle could well be as well a Sciatic symptom and the ankle as well. So you could well be right to think that all the symptoms are an expression of the same problem.
You say you can handle the pelvis tilt, I say you don't No way that you can have a mis alignment of the pelvis complex without affecting other parts of your body (e.g. high toned piriformis). A high toned Piriformis can potantially obstruct the Sciatic nerve. A pelvis mis alignment can affected the Lumbar spine.
What surprises me is that you name all these different muscles by name and even a pelvis tilt. This means that you are under the care of a therapist, or you are yourself one.
So sort 1st you pelvis out and see what is going to happen.
Good luck

Hi neurospast, thanks for answering.

I have played football and other sports all my life, I'm 37 now. But two years ago I started to feel pain in the left psoas and later on in the hip. After one year of exercises plus chiropractor I could walk big distances and run with no problem. But I resume the football and it is when I started with the pain in the ankle (at the front and in the arch). So, I´m not sure if the ankle pain is because of the sciatica or because everything is tight and I forced a loot. But I'm not a doctor. I didn't know that a sciatic symptom tight muscles, I thought it was just nerve pain.

Yes, I know all these names because I have read a bit in internet to try to solve my problem:

Posture - Correcting Posterior Pelvic Tilt - YouTube

My chiropractor told me to do Pilates for my back but I think yoga is also good. The pelvis is much better than 2 years ago but still a bit rotated......

Larry

A pelvis should normally be sorted in 3-4 sessions, thereafter (to my opinion) you should use exercise to strengthen your core before further mobilisations should take place. The reason is simple: within 3-4 sessions it should be aligned and no misalignment should take place. In case you continue to mis align it is because of the joints are to loose and do not tighten up by themselves. The idea of Pilates is good, but you have to do clinical Pilates and not in a sports studio.Reason is that none clinical is (depending on the instructor) not precise and people tend to overshoot the goal of stabilisation and tend to use every mscle in the body to compensate (human habit to use whatever we have).
Have you done the basics of Pilates? This is to learn to turn on and off core muscles, to increase their tension depending on the load and so on. Another thing is that most likely your Gluts do not function very well (you need them to stabilise your pelvis and to allow , at least the Hams, muscles of the legs to lengthen (you might be asking muscles to multi task). Check them with a clam: lie on your side, knees flexed 90dgrs, hips 45dgrs, keep pelvis in neutral, back slightly arched back, tighten core and open legs (=external rotation of hip). compare left and right, the external rotation should be equal and smooth movement without tendencies as to compensate by rotating you body (I suppose you can find some examples on the internet)
In order to find out the likelyhood of neural tension: do a straight leg raise (SLR) as a dynamic Hamstrings stretch (Hold thigh with both hands whilst lying on back then extend knee, compare left with right) In case there is a significant difference with the least range of movement on left (cannot extend knee, with same sensation, on left as much as right) tha the reason will most likely be neural tension. Having said this I suppose you need someone to test it for you. See also Slump test, but again you might need someone to do it.
Hope this helps.

Hi neurospast, thank you for your answer.

I´m much better than the first time I went to the chiropractor (Sep 2012), at the beginning I had to go twice a week and now just every 3 weeks, but it is true that the pelvis still moves out a bit once the chiropractor puts it in place.
Yes, I have done a lot of Pilates and Yoga during the last 18 months, otherwise I would have had a lot of pain during these months.

My left buttock (where the pelvis is rotated) is more flat than the right one (don´t know why), even after all these exercises. The left hamstring is really tight, probably because it has to work more to compensate other muscles. The left hip flexor is also much tighter than the right one. By the way, between my L5 and S1 there isn't a thick disc (sacralization).

You are right, I find these tests a bit difficult to do and interpret them by myself.

Thanks,

Alberto

I'm glad to hear that you're recovering. And these exercises indeed are difficult but once you get hold of them, you'll do them fine. All the best for the further sessions.