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Last Wednesday I fully ruptured my Achilles tendon, changing a lot of things in my life. In this post I'll talk a short bit about it (don't want to make a meal out of it).

The Issue

It occurred while I was playing goal with football, I walked out of the goal and then it struck, like a whip just above my left heel. Initially I hoped it was a partial rupture of my Achilles tendon, but two days later I found out it was a complete rupture. I suppose it looks like this inside, with the exception that mine is fully ruptured:

Courtesy of BruceBlaus, Wikimedia Commons.

The Cause

The cause is very unclear. Apparently I'm in a risk category, being 38 and an active goalkeeper. But it's been very hard to locate the precise trigger. Could be something I did earlier on that football practice that I forgot about, or it could having cycled with a too low saddle a few days. Or it could be something completely different altogether.

The Treatment

I have a so-called equinus cast, which I can't walk on and points my foot somewhat downward. The idea is that the tendons have some time to reattach, upon which I will get a cast at a slightly different angle, and eventually a boot. And at some point I will get quite extensive recovery therapy.

The Future

Well... if the lockdown forced me to take things a notch down, I can assure you that this injury forces me to take things another five notches down.

Aside from a lot of exercise types, there are only a few things that I cannot do, such as clipping my left toenails ;). However, a lot of the things I can do go slower, are riskier and cost more energy. So I try to pick my battles, doing only a subset of the tasks I would normally do but trying to them as well as I normally would.

Showering has particularly turned into a limbo-esque experience. Will the cast get wet? Can you keep your grip while you wash your hair? Do you remember that the bathroom floor is still wet when you get out? Anyway, so far so good after one attempt ;).

In terms of recovery, I will just have to wait and see. At the moment I'm mainly trying to figure out whether I'm getting the right treatment, and both how I can support my own recovery further and be of use to the household and workplace.

What if you get it?

If you ever happen to get this injury, make sure to have a look at AchillesBlog.com.

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