Achilles was a mythical great Greek warrior, the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, who, upon his birth, dipped baby Achilles into the River Styx, making him invincible. However, she neglected to let the water cover the heel by which she held him. And so this was the only part of his body that was vulnerable to injury. He eventually died when he was wounded by an arrow which struck his vulnerable heel, which is why we refer to a person’s weakness metaphorically as his “Achilles heel”. I’ve never heard of anyone else dying from a heel injury, which also makes him pretty special I guess.
It’s amazing how stories and characters can last thousands of years and character names from ancient times can be in daily use today. The Achilles tendon is named after this figure.
According to MayoClinic.org, “the Achilles tendon is a strong fibrous cord that connects the muscles in the back of your calf to your heel bone. If you overstretch your Achilles tendon, it can tear (rupture) completely or just partially.” This is what happened to me at about 9 pm on Sunday the 24th of April.
I was returning to my cabin at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, a dude ranch in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. I came to the ranch for a leadership retreat sponsored by my employer. After some socializing and dinner and a viewing of Apollo 13, which we were supposed to analyze for lessons in leadership, we called it quits for the night and returned to our cabins. Unfortunately, it was late enough to be completely dark, and to make things worse, it was pouring rain, transforming dirt paths into slippery mud, and further hampering visibility. I got close to my destination and attempted to climb an incline from the path I was on to my assigned cabin because I didn’t know any other way to get there. In retrospect, I should have followed the available paths and roads, but it was also pouring rain and I was in a hurry to get out of it. I slipped on the muddy slope and flailed around trying to right myself, and this is when I bent my right foot too far.
It seemed as if I heard the tendon break. But in retrospect, I probably just felt it; I’m not sure. There probably was a brief, sharp pain as well. The worst part was not the pain, though. The worst part was that I immediately knew that I was in for a long recovery. Based on past experience, possibly up to a year. And I was going to miss the rest of the retreat, forced to leave after only five hours.
I immediately knew what I was going to do, though perhaps it wasn’t that smart considering that my gas pedal foot was now at least partially disabled. I changed out of the muddy clothes, packed up everything, wrote a brief email to the organizer of the retreat, got in my truck, and started slowly finding my way home.
In case you are a new listener, I’ll say that this is not the first time I’ve had this type of injury. There have been several episodes, and you can search RunningAFEVER.com for them. The best is probably #143, titled “Achilles Tendon Injury”, which has video as well. It’s available at RunningAFEVER.com/143.
But this is definitely the worst Achilles injury I have ever had. In fact, it’s probably the worst injury I’ve ever had, period. Back to the story.
I was already being treated by a podiatrist, so I was able to make an appointment directly with him without going through my primary care provider. I got there at about 3:30 the next day. He did an ultrasound and determined that I had a rupture, though he wasn’t sure if it was partial or complete. The options were surgery or just giving it time and not moving it and hoping it would heal. I always try to avoid surgery. Apart from the risk, the side effects of general anesthesia are serious, and the more times you have general anesthesia, the worse they get. You might want to check out a book I reviewed in episode 266, which you can listen to at RunningAFEVER.com/266. It’s about Fentanyl, one of the most common anesthetics and a very dangerous drug.
So they put on a cast, preventing me from accidentally moving my ankle, and told me to come back in two weeks. They loaned me some crutches and a pair of shorts. Crutches are not terribly hard to use, but when you’re not to put any weight on your bad foot, it takes a lot of strength. It wore me out until I got a knee scooter recommended by one of the people at the podiatrist’s office. After two weeks, I went back. They cut off the cast and checked out my progress. Things were moving along fine, it looked like healing had begun, so they put another cast on and gave me another four weeks. During this time I worked from home and had a lot of help from my mother with groceries, mail, and such. I also caught COVID for the first time, which I talked about in last week’s episode.
Since I was still in quarantine when the time came to remove my cast, the podiatrist met me after hours when no one else was there, and we both wore masks. He had me wear a boot for another two weeks, the same boot you can see in the video from episode 143. Finally, I could put weight on my right foot. I got around pretty good in the boot, though the uneven length of my booted leg versus my left one caused a slight tweak in my back for a while. It was still not safe to drive. You might think driving wouldn’t be a problem, but with the boot on, you can’t feel the pedal. And try driving without moving your foot at the ankle, and you’ll see what I mean.
Since I got out of the boot, I have been in physical therapy three times a week, and things are getting much better. In fact, I think I’m healing faster than the other two times I have had milder injuries to my Achilles tendon. And soon, I’ll be going out for a walk. And you can bet I’ll take you along with me, and you’ll hear all about the experience.
Long term, I think it’s probably a good idea to work on my flexibility. Apart from a short stint of modified yoga for stretching, I haven’t done much work there, and I think it’s an area that deserves serious attention. I believe poor flexibility is responsible for many injuries, especially as we get older, and it could be important in longevity.
Video version of episode 143, “Achilles Tendon Injury”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsFIO9Dk6nc
Review of The Memory Thief by Lauren Aguirre:
https://runningafever.com/raf266-the-memory-thief-by-lauren-aguirre/
References:
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York, The New American Library, Inc. 1969.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/achilles-tendon-rupture/symptoms-causes/syc-20353234
https://horseshoecanyonduderanch.com/
Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-wearing-rubber-shoes-7298422/