My world changed about three days ago when I partially ruptured my Achilles tendon while playing soccer. About 30 minutes into the game, I turned to chase down a loose ball, accelerated two steps, and felt the classic shot-in-the-back-of-the-leg feeling used to describe a rupture of the Achilles tendon. I immediately tumbled to the ground and began to look around to see who had tackled me from behind. When I noticed that there wasn’t anyone near me, I realized that I had suffered a serious injury. A few folks ran over and asked me what was wrong.
My gut reaction was that it was my Achilles tendon. Thinking back, my subconscious mind drew a picture of an elastic band snapping at the moment of my injury. After helping me off the field, a friend of mine took me to the local hospital where a doctor confirmed what I already knew; I had injured my Achilles tendon. At the time of the diagnosis (3 AM), the local orthopedic surgeon wasn’t available to provide a confirmation so I decided to go home and drop back the following day. That was two days ago.
On Thursday, I met with a series of doctors who were able to confirm that there was an injury to my Achilles tendon. After a short wait, I met an orthopedic surgeon who admitted that surgery wasn’t an option because he believed that it was a partial rupture and that it occurred closer to the gastrosoleus complex. This was based on his observations when conducting tests on my Achilles tendon.
I left the hospital with my left leg in a fiberglass cast that extended from my toes to just below my knee. My toes are pointed downward at a 45 degree angle in order to bring my Achilles tendon closer to the gastrosoleus complex and to promote healing.
Looking back on the time of my injury, I realized that my first mistake was not taking the time to warm up and stretch. My second mistake was not listening to my body. During the game, I could feel my calves tightening, especially in my left leg, which was (ultimately) the one that I injured.
At this point, I am scheduled to meet with the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday. I have a few questions concerning my treatment. I would also like to have a MRI to confirm his diagnosis.
3 responses so far ↓
jennt1527 // Jul 13th 2008 at 3:07 pm
Definately get the MRI. My doctors also thought mine was only a partial tear. When the MRI results came back, my achilles was a full tear. Good luck. You will find this site very useful and full of information.
kkdub // Jul 13th 2008 at 3:14 pm
Get the MRI. The first Doc in the ER at Standford immediately told me I had ruptured my Achilles and that I needed to fly home and go to my local ER. The ER doc at home took an xray and then said that there is no way I completely ruputured it and that I should just take it easy. The friend that took me to the local ER insisted on an MRI (we also had a note from the Standford Doc as the suggested next steps). I then went to the ortho surgeon who had not yet rec’d the MRI but heard from the lab report that maybe torn it. The surgeon did several tests on his own and he also concluded that I had not ruptured it. He got the MRI three days later and I had a COMPLETE rupture. I dont’ think the docs would have moved on it for a couple more weeks if we had not insisted on the MRI. It helped him with the surgery too.
Andrew MacNeill // Jul 16th 2008 at 3:11 pm
Guess you won’t be hopping around on any stages in the near future.
Hope everything gets more bearable.
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