About me and the snap
I am a 50yr old physiotherapist - not a sports one though - I’ve always worked with people who have had long term neurological problems, e.g. strokes, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries etc. I have never stopped telling myself how lucky I am that I will get better from this injury.
I have a husband, Jim, who is a family doctor but is also a woodworker and very good at making and fixing things which has come in handy! He is also a good cook! Actually too good as I have had to cut down a bit so I don’t put on weight while not exercising.
My main sport is horse trekking, and at least I did this injury parting company with a horse, not tripping over a step or something stupid. If you do a sport I always think you have to accept that at some point you will get injured - I’ve been lucky as I’ve fallen off lots of times and the last time I injured myself was a broken arm when I was 4!
I was on a “bucket list” 12 day pack horse trek in the New Zealand South Island Alps (think Lord of the Rings!). Day two we were going up a steep hill, the horse didn’t want to go so there was a bit of a fight and the short version is that the horse started going backwards, things did not feel good and as I was half off I made the split decision that I would be better totally off - which was probably the right decision as the horse fell over, but I must have landed with all my weight on the left foot on the steep incline - it all happened so fast I don’t really remember; I rolled down the hill a bit into a dead sheep - lovely! I knew when I got up that it was probably my achilles, and Jim did the Thompson test which sadly confirmed it.
So that was the end of the trek - gutted (kiwi for hugely disappointing!). I feel sure that my own horse would have been up the hill with no problems but we were using their big clydsdale cross horses which although good for crossing the big rivers, perhaps aren’t so nimble on thier feet. Below is a picture of me resting halfway down the hill - a vechicle was coming to pick me up; you can see the mountains in the background where we were heading
