posted 03-14-2003 01:27 AM            

The drawback is that many of the surgeries like the adductor transfer (inner thigh) are a tradeoff. Mine stopped my knees from crossing, but now I walk with bent knees. I had heelcord surgeries, but even today I don't have a great deal of movement in my ankles.

I'm not sure what I would have been like without them, but there might be other alternatives to try first if it is a less severe case.

The traditional passive stretch is limited because it just stretches the muscles. They just go back if you don't keep doing it. I think a better investment might be in a really good massage therapist and a qualified Reiki practitioner. They are expensive, but a lot less expensive than surgery. For excercise Tai-Chi and meditative excercises are sometimes better than ordinary PT, which just focuses on forcing the muscles to do what they don't want.

posted 04-05-2003 02:37 PM            

I have not been a textbook case at all through this. Lots of the things that are expected to work have not so it is all wait and see. In the meantime, I do what I can to stay active -- swimming, walking, Pilates, weights, biking. My case is mild, but, as I've learned, that is such a relative term. If it were so mild, I'd not be at the mercy of specialists.

I am still glad I had the work done. While the recovery took alot of time away, I can walk better now. Expect to need tune-ups every now and again.

posted 05-03-2003 01:30 AM            

Do I think I shouldn't have had surgery? I don't know. They corrected things that made my life easier in some ways, but more difficult in others.

I had my heel cords cut at 18 months. It left me with 40% muscle strength permanently lost. I now need to have them done again, but am not about to lose another 40%. So I live with tight heelcords. This would be fine if I hadn't had a triple fusion on my ankle joints when I was 10. So now the tight heelcords are cause tremendous stress on ankle joints that don't move. OUCH! I walk on forearm crutches and hold down two jobs-- I just have to deal with the pain.

Don't get me wrong-- I try not to be bitter. I've talked to my Mom and she explained that the doctors told her that I had to have the surgeries in order to live a normal life. I understand that. But at what cost in the end?

In my professional life I have worked with severely disabled children and listened to parents agonize over what the best treatment is. This is good for me because it gave me insight into the challenges Mom faced and the mindset the doctors were in.

I don't the answers to your questions, but this was my experience.

Texacali213