In May 2006 I accidentally whacked myself very hard on the shin with a Hoover, cutting and bruising myself. Two months later I began experiencing a sensation I can only describe as like a cheese-grater tearing through my flesh.

To begin with, it was just to the side of my shin, about halfway down - but over the last 20 months it's moved steadily down into the side of my ankle and now it seems to be coming back up again. It's currently at the point where the top of the ankle meets the bottom of the shin and hurting worse than ever.

How it works is, the pain wells up over about five seconds, hits the top pain level and stays like that for maybe twenty seconds before dying away over the next minute. I'll have maybe three of these bouts a day for a fortnight, then the problem vanishes for a week or so before resuming (but now in a different location).

No descriptions of bloodclot symptoms seem to match this annoyance - and I certainly have no swelling or skin discolouration. But then again, I am over 40 and very tall (6' 5"), which supposedly makes me liable to form clots in my legs.

I've not bothered the doctor because the whole thing seems so bizarre, but it nevertheless hurts like stink and seems to be becoming more insistent.

Has anyone else been struck down by this weirdness? And should I be worried?