More on leg pains
by Geraden
Following the good contribution from TightsVirus (thank you!!) I thought I would go into some detail about my own leg problems which show some similarities and also some differences.
About ten years ago I started to get pains in my calf muscle – always the left one, never the right. The pain used to come on when I was standing or walking slowly. If I was sitting, lying or walking energetically there was no pain. The worst times were when I was waiting for a bus, or walking around the supermarket, doing shopping.
The pain was fairly mild at that time. Since I already wore tights regularly, I simply wore support tights, which made it feel less painful. The worse the pain was, the higher the factor of support I wore. I could usually anticipate how bad it was going to be, based on the kind of activity I was going to do and wear the appropriate support factor. My favourites were the Marks and Spencer support tights: light (support factor 6), medium (factor 8) and firm (factor 10).
As the months passed, the intensity of the pain increased, and I began to get it even when I was walking briskly. Support tights did not always eliminate the pain completely. I visited my GP about it. He asked me a lot of questions, assured me that I did not have thrombosis, and diagnosed my problem as ‘stress in the leg’, for which he gave me a homeopathic remedy.
The psychological effect has been mentioned in the context of tights wearing. It seems to have applied also to the homeopathic medicine. But the effects were temporary.
A few years passed, and at last I decided to do something about the growing problem. In the summer of 2007 I visited my GP again – a different doctor, whose scathing comments on the ‘stress in the leg’ diagnosis of her colleague were barely within the bounds of professional etiquette. The doctor referred me for an assessment. Based on what she told me, I imagined that I would have tests to determine the cause of the problem, and then the medical people would devise an appropriate treatment programme.
How wrong I was. I was surprised to receive a letter from the Orthopaedic Triage department advising me that I would be given an appointment for physiotherapy. I was not happy with this. Quite apart from the difficulty I have with the way the word ‘Triage’ is misused by the medical profession, it all seemed back to front: to give me physiotherapy before my condition had even been diagnosed, and without knowing whether physiotherapy would help or harm me. However, this is the way things are done. Only if physio does not work will they think of finding out what the real problem is.
I had a series of visits to the physio department. I was given exercises to do, I was given several acupuncture sessions, and I even had bone manipulation. None of this did any good, and the last of these actually made the problem much worse by giving me painful shin splints. By this time (January 2008) I was also developing pain akin to sciatica in the upper leg and at times I could barely walk. I still wore tights, which felt good, but by now they did nothing to ease the pain.
Finally my physiotherapist had to agree that she could do nothing for me, and I was referred back to the Triage Department as a failure. I finally got to see an Orthopaedic consultant, who ruled out muscular and vascular problems as a cause of my pain. That really left problems with the nervous system. The doctor referred me for a MRI scan. They had to do the scan four times to get a result. The stress of holding my body absolutely still for four lots of five minutes is not an experience I would like to repeat!
The results of the MRI scan revealed pressure on two nerves where they emerged from the spine. The Consultant suggested that I had an epidural cortisone injection in the base of the spine to reduce the inflammation that was causing the pressure. I finally had the injection in the summer of 2008, and although it took a week or two for the benefits become evident, I ended up with a 95% reduction in the pain. My calf has not been a problem since.
In my case, the wearing of tights did provide some relief, but I suspect the main benefit was psychological. After all, legs do feel better when one is wearing tights with a bit of support.
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I do think theres a pyschological factor involved, if we believe something
is doing something, even if it isn't we can trick ourselves into believing
so. I sometimes find that it is a comfort thing. i.e. feeling 'naked'
without them. Im a semi-regular tights wearer and I wear opaques under
trousers for comfort/warmth, I sometimes feel indifferent without them.
I ought to add: just because my leg problems were not resolved by wearing
support tights, it does not mean that support tights are of no use to
anyone. I am hoping that readers who have different kinds of leg problems
might add their experiences in a comment. For example, I believe that
circulatory problems can sometimes be greatly improved through
wearing support hosiery.
I do wear tights cos of my legs problems and need protect from tiredness
and weak muscle - when I put tights on then it help to make more
comfortable also at work I sit on my desk most of time about 8 hrs per day
with few walk about that why I dont want to get blood clot or anything -
sit too long can be dangerous to legs and body, wear tights can help to
make much comfortable. sitting too long at the desk or in the plane or
long driving in the car have to wear tights all time - good when wear
tights under shorts or even skirt to make nice air flow through the body.
Women wear most of time so men have do the same as well as it still as
unisex not just for women only - both women and men as equal, most doctors
would recommend men wearing tights if there any problems.
Avatars
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