Last Monday I made the courageous effort to go to the mailbox. I took the car down my very long driveway because I was headed out to Daleville.
I like to walk - I try to walk on the treadmill everyday and I enjoy the track at Greenfield, though I don't get to it nowhere near as often I'd like. I enjoy Cherry Blossom Trail, too. I would hike more but I don't like to go alone.
Anyway, I parked the car and headed across the road to fetch the mail. I removed the envelopes from the box and turned around. A car was coming, so I did a little hop/skip/jump to speed myself along. About midway across the road, I developed what felt like a cramp in the back of my left leg.
I remember thinking, "Oh, what a place to get a charlie horse, I hope I don't fall in the middle of the road," when this happened. I made it back to the car and massaged my leg. The cramp did not ease. I even tried the ol' "pinch the space beneath your nose" trick to make the cramp go away, but that did not work (it's an acupressure point and it does work, usually).
Oh well. I went on to the Business Expo at the high school, where I limped around for over an hour. I even stopped at the physical therapist's booth. "How do you get rid of a cramp?" I asked. They advised stretching it out. I found a wall and did a few stretches before heading off to the grocery store, where I limped around a bit more.
The cramp remained. I went home and put ice on my leg. By the next day my leg was swollen and you could see that an entire band of muscle was involved. The muscle was very tight and painful. I could barely walk. I began alternating heat and ice and that seemed to help a little.
Friday I visited my new doctor for an unrelated issue but asked her to take a look at my leg. At first she was concerned I had an embolism, which scared me, but she determined that was not the case. She advised me to keep using heat and ice and use an Ace wrap when I walk.
The Ace helps.
I had no idea that just getting the mail could be hazardous to my health.
Even a walk across my kitchen can be dangerous... sometimes I stub a toe on a chair. Maybe we should both slow down?
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(hope your leg mends soon)
Ouch...sounds painful! Hope it's feeling much better today.
ReplyDeleteI think a cramp is so very painful. And how horrible! Right in the middle of that road! Seems like you did all the right self-treatment things. I hate it when it happens in the middle of the night and I don't feel like doing all those things. Next time I will try the acupressure trick.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I hope your cramp has gone away. I know that they are very painful. I never heard of the pinching under your nose trick - I'll try it next time.
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