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A drumming injury?
September 29, 2013 | |
<strong>A drumming injury?</strong>
Hello. My name is Steve and I live in southern New Jersey, U.S.A. I am 49 years old and am a writer for a university. I had surgery for a torn achilles two weeks ago.
I am not absolutely sure how I injured my right Achilles tendon initially but believe it was from learning to play the drums, a constant boom, boom, boom on the bass pedal that caused some pain (which I played through, dumb!) and led to tendonosis. I was diagnosed in June 2012 and, under the direction of a podiatrist, attempted to treat it conservatively — non-surgically.
Though my drum teacher a the time and one or two podiatrists scoffed at how I thought I injured my tendon, I was using an old, flimsy bass pedal and believe I over-muscled the action. Considering the nature of the action, which ranges from relatively soft bass notes to high energy power beats, one could understand the stress placed on the Achilles if improper technique, poor equipment, or a combination of both, were at play.
For treatment I eventually went to three podiatrists. The first said to do nothing– stretch if I wanted or leave it alone. He was a guitarist and couldn’t believe I might have injured myself playing drums. I considered him a schmuck and didn’t go back. The second podiatrist sent me to physical therapy, then put me in a boot for eight weeks, then sent me back to PT. The muscles around my right Achilles did strengthen but I was still sore. I went to this doc from 9/12 to 9/13 and, even after I saw him this summer in serious pain, he did nothing but tell me his goal was to keep me out of surgery.
I read a lot online about how a regimen of eccentric calf exercises can “cure” Achilles tendonosis and went at these vigorously but they really hurt while doing them and they may have led to the tear I sustained about 16 months after the initial diagnosis.
In July of this year I spent an afternoon in New York City when, after walking around about two hours, I could not take another step. I’d been stretching my calf muscles all day, they were sore, but the pain progressed. It is also possible i tore my achilles then.
At this point I went to the third podiatrist. He ordered an MRI and discussed options: open surgery, a Topaz procedure (in which he would use radio frequencies to try and spur healing of the tendonois) or an injection into the tendon of my own platelets. It was my understanding that both of the latter were best for tendonosis and would not address a tear, which I didn’t yet know I had.
I went for the MRI and took it to a board certified orthopedic surgeon who I’d already scheduled an appointment with. This surgeon, Dr. Rick Raimondo in southern New Jersey, specializes in foot and ankle issues. He operated on my wife’s colleague last December and he’d made a complete recovery. He showed me that I did in fact have a tear in tendon of about a centimeter in length. I was impressed with Dr. Raimondo and scheduled the surgery.
I had the surgery 9/16/13 — exactly two weeks ago today — and am scheduled to have the staples/sutures out tomorrow.
Comments
2 Comments so far
Haha. I’m fairly certain it led to the tendonosis and that, eventually, led to the tear.
Everyone seems to enjoy the story but thanks for the feedback.
Good luck in your recovery as well. I was on a pain pump for three days so my foot was constantly numb. I avoided the narcotics because I didn’t need them and didn’t love how they made me feel. Plus, I was concerned about getting hooked. After 3-4 days I was ok with tylenol and advil and then needed very little pain meds at all.
Make sure to keep your foot raised at least waist high and possibly chest high as much as you can. It will keep swelling down and you’ll be more comfortable.
I see that you like to play drums, you want to know how to reach your dreams?