A couple of years ago, one orthopedic diagnosed it as degenerative disc disease. He ordered her a cortisone injection to relieve the inflammation. The doc performing the procedure told Kelli it wasn't DDD, but arthritis. Osteoarthritis requires wear and tear to the hip joint, which was not indicated by X-ray or MRI. She went to a rheumatologist to see about medication to manage the inflammation, but he told her that her blood work revealed no rheumatoid arthritis. So the moral is, you can totally screw up at your job and still make a quarter million bucks a year.
We're trying to get Kelli in at a different practice, Alabama Sports Medicine. If you're from the 'Ham or have ever followed sports at all, you know that these guys have a client roster that reads like a Who's Who of college and professional athletes. We figure if the pros are trusting Doc Andrews and company with their multi-million dollar salaries, then they must be pretty good.
Of course, in the era of the internet, everyone's a quack. We did some searches on Kelli's symptoms, and we found a few conditions that at least partially matched. Trochanteric bursitis has many similar pain symptoms, but is exacerbated by movement. Kelli's pain, on the other hand, is relieved by moderate walking and worse when she sits or lies down for too long. While spinal stenosis could result from Kelli's scoliosis, its symptoms tend to be more in the legs and include weakness and numbness, neither of which she is experiencing. The somewhat controversial condition known as piriformis syndrome doesn't fit the bill because it doesn't include lower back pain, which always accompanies the pain in Kelli's hip.
We then stumbled upon a condition called sacroilitis, which can be caused by child bearing. (Kelli's pain onset following her pregnancy with Savannah.)Here's a brief description of the symptoms:
Patients with SI inflammation will generally complain of low back, buttock, and thigh pain. This pain typically becomes worse when sitting for any prolonged period of time. Sacroiliitis is commonly confused with sciatica.
This condition was widely popular as a diagnosis early in the 20th century. When herniated, slipped and degenerated discs became popularized in the mid-20th century, sacroilitis fell out of favor and is rarely given as a diagnosis today. Who knew the fickle winds of fashion blew through modern medicine? Hopefully, Kelli will get in to see a new orthopedic soon, tell him/her the sacroilitis theory and get some treatment.
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Posted by Wayne to Stone Bridge: Family at 2/11/2006 07:56:00 AM
