Hood’s AchillesBlog

The first two weeks in the wedges were very confusing for me. Was I supposed to be in any pain at all? Should I walk around a lot, some, just a little? Should I use my scooter or crutches sometimes, and just build up to more activity? Unfortunately, I couldn’t start PT as I was in between residency and fellowship, and didn’t have insurance. Apparently I had Cobra, but it was going to be a real pain to get it set up, so I decided to just start PT when I was down in Houston and had started my new job (August 6th). In the meantime, I did ROM and alphabet exercises 2-3 times a day. There were days when I felt great. My tendon always felt worse at the end of the day, rather than at the beginning, as it seems other people’s do. I was walking with a noticeable limp, which is normal, I guess, but I hated it. When I tried to walk normally, I could feel little twinges on the lateral part of my tendon.There were other days that were pretty miserable all around, and I was having pain pretty much throughout.

I moved into my new place in Houston on July 28th. I had to walk across some soft sod while moving furniture and my heel kind of sunk in the mud and really stretched the tendon out. I should have stopped then, but I finished up moving and hopped on a plane back to Chicago that day. After the move and walking through the airport, my leg was really hurting. I still had good range of motion and could do everything, so I assumed everything was fine. I got back to Chicago fine and got ready to take my boards on July 30th, 2 months after my injury.