I’m really stuck in a chair because of this broken ankle and it’s making me focus on other parts of my body that are aching since they are being repetitively strained. The biggest immediate problem is my hamstrings.
Your hamstrings originate at the base of your posterior pelvis and then travel down the back of your thigh until they insert into your lower leg bones (tibia and fibula) on either side of your knee. When your hamstrings contract you bend your knee, but in the situation where I find myself, my knee is bent all the time so my hamstrings are getting repetitively strained. In fact, they are shortening so much that they are throbbing from the spasms that have formed in the fibers.
Fortunately I know how to do self-treatments, I can’t even begin to imagine how much this must hurt someone who doesn’t know how to release the tension on a regular basis!
All of this sitting (I can’t put any weight on my ankle or foot) is causing my pelvis to rotate, and a lot of other muscles to go into spasm as well. If you haven’t already read the description of the muscles that rotate your pelvis, you may find it interesting and it will explain why even though my pain is in my hamstrings (I’m ignoring my ankle right now!) my quadriceps are very involved in this problem, and I’m sure other things are happening too, but they’ll have to wait until I can put my foot on the ground.
Hopefully your tight hamstrings are happening because you are doing something fun, like running or playing a sport!
Have a great day,
Julie