Overcoming Shoulder Anxiety: Leg Worry

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CollsMaroon

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As you all know, I've been dealing with huge shoulder anxiety lately. Well, I think I'm finally getting over it (knock on wood), so THANK YOU to everyone who has weighed in on my many, many posts.Now, I don't know whether this is just my mind f*cking with me and setting up a new worry, but here it is. I noticed as I was walking around last night my left leg (quad in particular) felt...weird. Hard to describe, kind of tight, stiff, and like I had to concentrate on telling it to walk properly. I of course then came home and did strength testing. All fine...EXCEPT that leg still felt a little weird, and left ankle kind of felt a couple of weird "pangs" when I was doing the hops. Was that weakness? Was it about to give way? Who knows. Bit it didn't. Now, I have had that exact same thing happen to my ankle (one? both? haven't paid attention) many different times on runs, and always figured it was from not landing on it properly. Is that what this is too??Argh! It's killing me. Is this the start of leg issues? Foot drop? I sure hope not. I'm trying to be reasonable and say that I wouldn't be "feeling" anything weird anywhere, if it were bad....and...to...CHILL OUT.Opinions? Advice?
 
Nothing to worry about here.Als is simply something not working, or with reduced function, no weird feelings, no 'warning' of weakness. Thigh is not distal, would almost certaintly present with foot drop.
 
Yeah, that's what I've been trying to tell myself, re the foot drop. I just got scared that the pangs I had on a couple of hops on the left were the beginnings of that :( but, perhaps that doesn't make sense. If it were foot drop, I simply wouldn't be able to walk properly, right?
 
In a foot drop you just can not manage keeping the foot parallel to the floor, and the foot becomes really displaced because of lack of muscle support and tension, and it always 'scratches' the floor behind you on each step. people with foot drop are prominently limp and usually need a cane to keep up.
 
Thanks for the responses.When I was at my physio appt for my shoulder today, I had him check out my leg, and he said the long muscle of the quad the innevates the joint at the top of the leg and travels to the knee was really really tight, from top to bottom. No idea why - he suggested it could be from holding the muscles tight during worry, or from just a strange movement of some sort. And I'm sure the strength testing isn't helping.Hopefully this is all it is, because I'm one millisecond away from a complete nervous breakdown.And, why is it always my left side? Always! It was the first thing I had emg'd, and I've often cycled back to it whenever I think it's behaving strangely. I last had an EMG on it about seven months ago.
 
Colls, should your quad muscle was spastic due to ALS related processes, it would mean that at that time you should have your lower leg already lost, because ALS is ascending process and, as it was said many times, starts always in distal parts of the body (e.g., fisrt foot drop, then full leg paralysis, not vice versa).I have tight muscles because of bad circulation in them and because of incorrect siting habits. Have a closer look on how do you sit, if you cross your legs autmatically, what is your preferred position during the sleep etc. That is much more possible reason for having muscles constantly strained that anyone else.
 
Thank you all so much for your responses.I am still really struggling, but trying very hard to deal with it.Like a bad girl, I have done strength testing. Just now, actually. Ran up 18 flights of stairs. Stupid. Both legs felt fine going up, shaky coming down, as would be expected. The left seemed to feel shakier though, although I don't know if I was magnifying that feeling or not.If these leg issues were because of...IT...would I have been able to do those stairs?
 
NEVER!people striken with ALS can not stay upright, they limp and their legs (if it is a leg onset) are progressivly weaker and weaker. They could not do extensive tests as we are used to.
 
Hey colls have the same leg issue too tightness that make walking weird. Like you my physical therpist said my leg muscles were tight do to my sitting habits. If you get that same tightness ice your leg and let it rest its just your muscle way of saying its tired. I realized i only get that feeling after my pt or running so the test you do do make it worse i know cause i do it too sometimes. I also want to say thanks for the post it really help me realize i'm not the the only one with this issue and it also put my als fear away. I think if I can do my pt therapy every week and you can run up 18 flights we should be in the clear for not having als
 
I had the same symptoms myself. I started twitching in my foot arch and my leg felt stiff and week, especially the left side of my right foot. I too started testing it and my foot was excellent except from when I ran down a hill which made my foot burn. 3 weeks later my foot is back to it's normal state and that stiffness had migrated to my arm and shoulder. Funny fact, i'm testing my shoulder arm and hand right now as im writing from my smartphone using my right hand only. :LOL:
 

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