It’s nice having a friend who’s an ortho PA!
One of my best pals is an orthopedic PA; she is visting from another state for Thanksgiving. She took a look at my husband on cruthces and said “whoa — you need to adjust those crutches!” She said the height to underarm was good; but the hand grip position was too high; she suggested lowering them by two adjustment holes. She said he should be aiming for a 20 degree angle in the arms when holding the grips. My husband said that adjustment really helped; he feels far more in control. He looks more in control, too. He’s 6′2″ and those crutches looked like out-of-control albatross wings!
She participates in achilles tendon surgeries regularly so it was interesting hearing her description of what it’s like from the surgeon’s perspective [stop here if you are squeamish!]. She said sewing the tendon together is a bit like sewing crab meat — the ruptured ends of the tendon are like ends on a string mop. They use special stitches to hold everything together “under the hood.” She drew a picture that looked like a long, wide, zig-zag sewing stitch running vertically down the leg. On the outside of the leg, my husband had dark purple lines running periodically up the incision — sort of like train tracks. She said they make those marks before they cut. When it’s time to sew the patient back up, they use those purple lines to align the skin back in place. When I said “really?…you need a map?!” She started to describe what the surgical site is like when it’s time to sew up the patient — she stopped when she realized it might be too graphic for the lay person. 