Pro-Sports

Over the last couple of weeks, I have developed a persistent pain in my left ankle that doesn’t seem to be resolving on its own.  I strongly suspect it has a lot to do with an old injury and the fact that I have been doing too much pacing around the room with a 12kg weight (read: Gavin).  My ankle pains occur whenever I get out of bed (probably due to the cold from the air-conditioning or the lack of use, or both), or whenever I’ve been pacing around the room for a period of time.

The reason I suspect it could be a flare up of an old injury is because the pain usually goes away on its own, especially if I let it rest.  Plus, I don’t get the problem whenever I wear well-supported shoes to go out (sneakers or my Merrell High-Tops).  It’s sort of gotten to the point where I never wear heels any more and I only wear slippers if I’m not planning to do much walking or if I’m heading to a friend’s house.

I wanted to get it checked out by my orthopedic, Dr Gan, from Damansara Specialist Hospital but the next available appointment with him was in June.  The hubby suggested I try KLSMC which is a sports medicine center located in Damansara Heights near the Help Institute.  A quick look at their website revealed that they had a specialist, Dr Low, dealing with foot and ankle injuries, so I called up to make an appointment.

Turns out Dr Low’s appointment book was rather easy to get on and I made an appointment to see him - which was yesterday.  KLSMC is a rather classy joint with plush leather seats, a large tropical aquarium and warm, wooden floorboards.  Clean and spacious, I could tell that the bill wasn’t going to be light the moment I walked into reception.  Well, I didn’t mind paying as long as I didn’t have to wait endlessly like I did whenever I had an appointment to see a doctor anywhere else.  Unfortunately, such was not the case even with KLSMC.  Firstly, Dr Low was 25 minutes late and I didn’t get to see him until nearly an hour later.

I honestly don’t understand what it is with doctors and tardiness.  Is it just doctors or is it because they’re Malaysians?  One of my biggest gripes about visiting a doctor is the senseless waste of waiting time.  That gripe has only gotten larger now that I have a fussy toddler in tow.  It has also prompted me to do more self-diagnosing and make less visits to the doctor.

But I digress…  Dr Low took a look at my ankle and made an observation about my Merrell High-Tops.  I guess he assumed from my Merrells that I was still actively hiking.  I explained that the support they gave made my ankle a lot more comfortable. 

According to Dr Low, my ankle joints were loose - no doubt due to my past injuries and poor rehabilitation (well, I could have told him that - actually, I did!) - which, now that I was older, was starting to get problematic.  The only way to fix the problem was to do strengthening exercises so that the muscles can help support the weakened ankle (again, something I pretty much figured out on my own). 

Dr Low glanced at my Merrells and said, “We’ll help you rehabilitate your ankle, I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck wearing those forever.”  I remembered thinking to myself, “Excuse me, but I LIKE my Merrells and I LOVE wearing them!”  I mean, looking at the sort of clothes I was wearing (t-shirt and cargo pants), the kind of bag I carry (I had a High Sierra Lumbar Hydration Pack), why on Earth would he think I minded wearing Merrell High-Tops on a regular basis?

Anyway, in short, my problem was: old age.  Funny how we take all these things for granted in our youth - fall down, let the body heal itself and worry about the consequences when we’re older.  Rehab?  Who needs that?  Well, if I had rehabilitated my ankle when I first injured it, my ligaments might have tightened up sufficiently to provide my ankle the support it required.  So, the next time you get an injury, don’t write it off on the powers of your youth - rehab, rehab, rehab!  You’ll thank me in your old age.

Dr Low recommended taking an x-ray film to check that there was no underlying pathology.  This was the main reason why I went to see him - to make sure that there wasn’t some hairline fracture that I wasn’t aware of.  By the time I got back from the x-ray department, the wait to see Dr Low again for the review was so long, I decided to leave - it was going to be another hour before I could get in to see the doctor and it was almost peak-hour.  I was scheduled for physio so I had to go back anyway.  So I’m due back to see the physio in the morning - I assume to get some exercises for my ankle.

The nurse was talking about me having several sessions of physio which I thought was rather extreme for my case.  I guess that’s what you get for attending a posh place like KLSMC.  They need to find ways to charge you… 

When I first went to see Dr Gan all those years back about my knee pains, he taught me the exercises himself and gave me instructions to follow.  I didn’t even need to go back to see him again unless the pain didn’t ease up.

The consult plus the x-ray cost me RM190 - a tad on the high side, but I guess not excessively so since I expected to pay about RM100+ for the consult anyway.

Personally, I think what I need to help resolve my problem is to get a pair of supportive shoes to wear indoors whenever I’m carrying Gavin to rock him to sleep.  I’m sure starting up my Yoga exercises will also help to strengthen my ankles.  But since I already broght the problem up to the doctor, I guess I might as well see what he has to say.  I’ll tell you all about the exercises I need to do after my appointment with the physio.

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