Like this:

knockknockknock.

I tap on the door, gently pushing it against the wall as I search for Dr. Fortes.

The room is small and dark, with walls covered in posters from marathons and triathlons all over the country. Two beds fill up the center space, and in the corner sits a man with a visor. He’s on the cell phone booking a hotel.

When Dr. Fortes turns around, he hands me medical information and we start talking about my knee and how its hindering my running routine.

“I’m not your normal chiropractor,” he says.

An hour later, I understood.

By the time I left my new doctor, I had a diagnosis like I’d never expected: My left leg is shorter than my right.

As if I’m not already short enough at 5’2″, one side of me is even shorter! Does Ann Taylor Loft petites make jeans with a one “short” and one “shorter” leg?

He’s not making this up, either – the right side even weighs 15 pounds more.

Dr. Fortes says this is because when I sleep on my right hand side, my knee bends and puts my pelvic bone in a different position. Over time, that’s pulled my left leg up higher (somehow) and has caused the knee pain when I run.

It’s how he addressed it that was different. He took a silver tool similar to a blunt knife, dipped it in lotion, and rubbed – hard - all over my leg. It was painful.

If memory serves me, he said this process works out scar tissue and immediately starts improving the tissues.

He then covered my leg in pink tape (which I’m told helps drain out all the gunky stuff, so to speak) and had me on treadmills, stair steppers and other equipment, testing my knee pain.

Already, it had improved.

I took note of his instructions: Don’t sleep on your right side unless you bend both knees and put a pillow between them. And twice a day, walk around with one shoe on.

I returned today, nervously, hoping that he wouldn’t bring the knife out on my knee, which is bruised and swollen from the first appointment (this, he said, is normal).

He was understanding, promising to take it easy. Most of the time he had me skipping and lunging all over the empty gym.

I’ve tried family doctors. Sports medicine doctors. Physical therapists. And now a chiropractor.

Each time the diagnosis is different. Here’s hoping he’s right.

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