Health Report - December 16, 2022

My health has continued to improve since I wrote Health Report - September 13, 2022. I do several Awareness Through Movement lessons from the Feldenkrais Method every week, and I have continued weekly acupuncture sessions with Cynthia Hewett. I've also been taking the many supplements recommended by my primary care doctor, Polina Liss.

Blood tests in early October included a sed rate in the normal range, whereas previously it had been high, indicating inflammation. However achiness in my hands, shoulders, knees, and hips has continued. Despite that achiness, in October I took a three-day trip of 180 miles (October 11-13, 2022 - Hudson, NY) and felt good both during and after the trip.

One week after completing the three-day trip I started to have minor dislocations of right knee while seated at my desk. I was always able to put my bones back in place so that I could stand and walk without trouble, but I was concerned that the inflammation had combined with certain habits I have of using my right leg to cause this trouble which I had never previously experienced. For example, I noticed that when I would sit down at my desk my right foot would initially be pointed the same direction as my right thigh and my right knee would be over my right ankle. But after a few minutes my right foot would be pointed more to the right and my right knee would have moved to the left, putting my right knee in trouble. A few days after the dislocations started I had a lesson with my Feldenkrais-practitioner colleague Marek Wyszynski. The most important part of the lesson was Marek's explanation that I must avoid having my right leg planted when turning left. He demonstrated how a right-handed golfer unweights the left leg during the backstroke, and unweights the right leg when striking the ball. I made a practice of initiating turns to the left by rotating my right leg to the left rather than by moving my left leg to the left. This way of turning quickly became habitual and helped to take care of my right knee.

But the minor dislocations continued despite my new way of turning, so in mid-November I started a series of four weekly sessions with Karen Senko, a physical therapist recommended by my wife. Karen showed me that, when I was standing, my right calcaneus (heel bone) was tilted to the right and the first toe of my right foot made inadequate contact with the ground. My right foot was tilted rather than level with the ground, leading to repeated inappropriate stresses on my right knee. After Karen helped me learn to have my right foot be level on the ground, the minor dislocations gradually became less frequent and less severe, and now they've all but completely stopped. My pedaling also feels better as a result of the work with Karen. She has also helped me regain most of the freedom of movement in my left shoulder which had been severely restricted since the start of the trouble in February.

The history of trouble with my right knee goes back at least as far as 2011. It deserves a blog post of its own which I have started to write.

In early October I had a consultation with rheumatologist Dr. Weijia Yuan. She suggested I get a Mediated Release Test (MRT) for food sensitivity. The results recently arrived, showing which foods are in the green range (non-reactive), yellow range (mildly reactive), and red range (reactive). I had expected there would be several foods in the red range, perhaps some of them my favorites. Instead the only food in the red range is American cheese, something I haven't eaten for decades. I was pleased to learn that all the ingredients of Cherry Garcia, my favorite ice cream, are in the green range, with the exception of cherries which are in the low end of the yellow range.

I need to carefully study the results of the test to determine what changes in my diet might be helpful.

Play the video below to hear part of a song by The Beatles that summarizes how things have been going for me.

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