Too Much, Too Soon - my Achilles Tendon Rupture

Well world, I hope you learn from my mistakes. Anyone reading this is coming from either of two places; you have an ATR (Achilles tendon rupture) and need some company and understanding or you want to learn how an ATR can happen and so prevent it. Its likely to be the former reason but I hope you all pass on this experience to others who may learn from it.

“Learn” is too strong because what I have to say, people probably already know; which makes the point more important because my case is about having the knowledge of how to avoid an ATR but not using it. I hope my experience will lead others to do what they know and avoid an ATR experience; believe me it aint funny.

Heres the scoop: I am 42 years old and all my life I have been physically active. I played Soccer (”football” outside of USA/Canada) to a high standard upto my teens, later became a ski racer when I lived near the Alps for 7 years. I also enjoyed tennis regularly. The last 4 years I did no sport but jogged and bits at the gym. Then in 2007 I did nothing the whole year. I had insomnia and had no energy to do anything. 2008 I was dtermined to come back to life; I began to sleep better and began going to the gym before work to skip, get the lard off and get some stamina.

To anyone not having done it, skipping is a great exercise. You only need to do 10-15 minutes a day for a week to see big improvements. It was fun and I began to skip like a champ (OK, Im exagerating but thats what it felt like).

I now decided to rekindle an old flame that never fully went out; my passion for soccer. I walked away from ths sport at my peak at 17 (thats another story - I had 3 clubs interested in me at the time, Rotherham, Cambridge Utd and Liverpool). Like most kids from a poor inner-city background, soccer was a life saver for me and it meant everything. It was the only light in my life and it was the only source of fun, freedom and I guess expression. And I guess thats how most people feel about doing sports, to some degree or other. Good or bad at it, most people love to do it. Sport feels like sunshine, you cant live without it.

Guys at work were holding weekly soccer games every Wednesday. I played my first game in the last week of June and it felt great. Despite my obvious lack of stamina and speed or the 14 pounds excess baggage I was hauling around, I managed to last a full 90 minutes on a full size field. It was like being born again; all those old instinctive feelings came gushing out and I was hooked again. I knew the stamina and speed would come with more games and I was determined not to miss any.

I played the following week, eager as I had been at 17. But I was about to become my own worst enemy. I got delayed at work and was only able to make the soccer field with about 20 minutes left. I told myself to skip it and wait to the next weeks game. Sound advice that went in one ear and out of the other. I got changed in about 3 seconds flat and made a fatal mistake that I had never made before and knew should be avoided like the plague when playing a sport like soccer.

I didnt do any warm-up or stretching. I cringe now as I write that confession. Yep, I became an eager beaver and ran straight out to the field and started playing soccer. I would go easy I told myself. Such casual disrespect was about to be sorely punished. After about 5 minutes I got the ball with no one near me. I went to turn and make off when my left (standing) leg was hit by sledgehammer from the back. I was convinced a nearby hockey player had hit me with his hard ball, but saw he still had it. I limped off, knowing that this kicking sensation was a tell tale sign of an ATR. I was in pain but not rolling around with agony; the initial explosion was bad but it lessened. Optimistically (OK, I was a blind dumb ass) I hoped it was a bad cramp in the calf; I stood against the wall and did some stretching exercises…

Never, never do a major sport without an adequate warm up or stretching. I dont care if you are playing with your kids, its an absolute fact that top-tuned atheletes can damage themselves if they do not warm up properly, so it can definitely happen to you too.

I have rambled for ages, if any of you made it this far, Thanks for listening. I will keep my future blogs much shorter. I had my operation last week and thats where I will kick off my next blog. Bye for now.