Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Twisted sister

I finally had my appt with Dr. T, a patello-femoral specialist who is to knees as Dr. Z is to hips. Basically I was looking for how bad my malalignment is in numbers and to see if Dr. T suggested the same thing as Dr. Z. Both docs came up with the same conclusion about my left leg. Derotation osteotomies (DRO) for both the femur and tibia. My right femur is not "twisted" enough to consider any derotation.
So, normal femoral anteversion is 13* and normal tibial torsion is 25*. My right femur is anteverted 14* and my right tibia is externally rotated 37* (which is pretty significant). My left femur is excessively anteverted at 45* and my left tibial external torsion is at 45* (both numbers are very significant). So the DRO would be beneficial for my left leg. It is not something that HAS to be done but more on how I feel and adapt to limiting factors.
One interesting thing is my orthotics are doing me no good (as I've mentioned previously) because they are meant for arch support to keep from over pronating. But Dr. T showed me where having the orthotic would be most helpful and it's under the ball of my foot. That helps to align my femur/knee a bit more and take some stress off my knee. I actually have higher than normal arches and they are stiff. Who knew?? I also inquired if the dysplasia caused the miserable malalignment or vice versa. Dr. T said one does not cause the other but research shows that those with hip dysplasia are more likely to also have excessive anteversion. He was also very interested in how asymmetrical my femurs are. He said it's unusual for only one femur to be excessively anteverted. But then, my pelvis is also unusual according to Dr. Z, so maybe that has a lot to do with it! My guess is that it must be my tibias causing my knee caps to face inwards because the right knee looks like it faces in too even though my femur is nearly straight.
I learned a lot of interesting things at my appt yesterday, but as much as I liked Dr. T, I will not go to him for treatment. I'm a Z girl and staying that way ;)

1 comment:

Kelsey Claire said...

Glad you were able to make a decision about what to do! Sometimes that his the hardest part. Good luck from a fellow hip chick!