I get more excruciating pain but this is the most distracting and most regular, and I’m experiencing it right now. It starts in my left heel, often at its back and left, occuring every 3-4 seconds and lasting 1-2. It goes on for days (and nights) and there is very little I can do to mitigate it. It helps if I stand but I can’t do that for very long. It doesn’t respond to pain-killers. I hold my heel or, sometimes, the back of my knee to my chest — more for comfort than anything else. This is one of the reasons my left leg is now shorter than my right. Seriously. It’s over 4cm.

Sometimes I get relief from lying on my back on the floor. On occasion, usually when I’m in this position, the throbbing will build in intensity, and migrate to the back of that knee, building and building until I experience what I can only describe as a climax. Thereafter I can be blissfully pain-free for a few minutes, perhaps longer. If lying down, I can catch up with some sleep.

I often descibe this as sciatic pain distorted by the spinal injury, but I’m told that the relevant nerve is not damaged.