My undiagnosed injury- Help!

First, maybe Dr. Fullem can help on this one.

Second, where do you live that you have to wait until April of 2003 for an MRI? Are you in the USA?

dr. fullem???

I live in Canada, Alberta to be specific.

I'm guessing Canada -- long waits for treatment, and people who use the word "labour."

It sure sounds like achilles tendonitis. The bone scan should have ruled out a stress fracture, and the comment about "irregular blood flow" indicates soft tissue injury, which shows up in the blood-flow phase of a bone scan during the first few minutes after the radioactive tracer is injected.

Here are a few time-tested treatments for achilles tendonitis, with the usual disclaimer that I could be entirely wrong about all of this and there are others here who probably have more clever ideas: Ice the injured area several times a day. Take anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen (Advil). Use heel lifts during walking and running, to reduce the tension on the heel cord. (Taping the foot and ankle can also help.) Do VERY gentle stretching of the calf muscles. (Do not bounce, and do not try to stretch the tendon itself. Rather, place your foot at an angle that allows you to feel the stretch in the belly of the calf rather than further down near the heel.) If you can tolerate it, you might try calf raises, but stop if it hurts. Keep in mind that achilles injuries can range from mild inflammation to complete rupture and everything in between.

That's my two cents.

Maybe yer an ass pirate?!?

runna wrote:

I live in Canada, Alberta to be specific.

Nailed it!!

Shouldn't this Achilees tendonitis have been healed in the 4 weeks I took COMPLETELY OFF after the initial injury, or in the 4 weeks I took COMPLETELY OFF during my time away from work? (note I worked for 6 weeks in the time between these two periods)

Achilles injuries can be pretty persistent, especially if they're left untreated. I think you need to be very diligent with ice, anti-inflammatories, heel lifts, new training shoes (and NO running in racing flats), stretching, and strengthing with calf raises. (The calf raises are typically done by raising and lowering the heel while you're standing with your forefoot on the edge of a step, so that your heel drops down below the level of the forefoot and moves through a full range of motion. Over time, you can speed up the raising and lowering, and can also add weights over your shoulders to increase the load.)

The fact that you initially experienced the pain suddenly and intensely during a run suggests the possibility of a partial rupture of the tendon, which can be highly problematic and may require surgery. You really should try to find an experienced sportsmedicine doctor; the average physician is just about useless for diagnosing and treating this stuff.

When I feel around the tendon and apply pressure it does not seem to bother me... The pain seems to be comming from "inside" the ankle if you will... it is hard to describe, but it feels like whenever I try and rotate the left foot, or move it up and down, this is when the pain becomes most obvious.

Ah, the benefits of socialized medicine.

could be avascular necrosis of the astralgus. If not, possibly osteogenic sarcoma.

Election Day reminder!

If you want health care in the US to be socialized, like our friends north of the border, please vote for me! We dems tried to help out you little people by socializing medicine when Bill and Hillary were in the oval office and those mean, nasty Republicans stopped us. So, remember to vote for Democrats if you want the same quality of health care as described by our friend in Alberta, Canada!

Long live King Bill!

It took my achilles tendon 1.5 years to heal. 4 weeks isn't enough time if it's hurt real bad.

Democrat candidate wrote:

Election Day reminder!

If you want health care in the US to be socialized, like our friends north of the border, please vote for me! We dems tried to help out you little people by socializing medicine when Bill and Hillary were in the oval office and those mean, nasty Republicans stopped us. So, remember to vote for Democrats if you want the same quality of health care as described by our friend in Alberta, Canada!

Long live King Bill!

Funny!

If it's Achilles Tendinitis: No running, anti-inflammatories, and ice baths several times a day. The icing and no running are what finally got rid of my tendinitis, which lingered for about 2 months because I tried to run through it, run a little through it, etc. until I couldn't walk up stairs without it hurting.

The icebaths were 10-20 minutes soaking my ankle in a bucket of ice water, until I couldn't move it or feel it.

The "inside the ankle" feeling doesn't sound like AT, though. With my AT, I could hold the tendon between two fingers, flex my foot up and down, and feel the scar tissue "grinding" in the tendon.

I showed this thread to a few people and got the following response. I had a bad case of both achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis both of which cleared up completely after giving orthotics a chance to work during a 7 month lay-off after rupturing one of the fascia.

"As someone with extremely sensitive Achilles, it sounds to me like

tendonitis. With a bad shoe, I can get it in one workout. Swim in the

pool, ride a bike, and don't do anything that aggravates the Achilles for a

few weeks - including wear the shoes he's been wearing (wear some

heel-less sandals as much as possible). A few comments:

1) physicians are generally idiots when it comes to athletic injuries - if

they can't fix something with drugs or slice-&-dice, then they don't

recognize it;

2) did the guy buy a new pair of shoes right before he got his Achilles

problem (either training or racing shoes, or non-athletic shoes)?

3) if he did get a new pair of shoes, he should put them on the counter

facing away, and look at the heel area from the back - checking whether the

rear midline perfectly is vertical in both shoes (especially the side he's

having problems on) Also they should be symmetrical. (- because shoes,

including running shoes, are for the most part cranked off a million at a

time from some last in some small Asian country in a highly automated

fashion, there next to no quality control on a shoe-to-shoe basis)

4) if they're not symmetrical and vertical from behind, then he should toss

them or return them, get a new pair, and check the shoes from behind

before he tries or buys them."

One more thing - my tendinitis was originally caused by trying to wear my favorite pair of training shoes for too long. Once I actually checked (well after I was sidelined by the tendon), I could feel the outsole from the inside of the shoe - i.e., no more padding whatsoever.

runna wrote:

It was during this run that I felt some extreme pain comming from my the back of my left foot. (errr- my ankle/heal?) ........... that doesn't say much- just that their is "irregular blood flow in the left ankle".......... So now that I have resumed training, I am finding a constant reminder that the pain is still there... it seems whenever I push it too much in a run it will like snap or something, and after some runs is VERY sore and uncomfortable, and because of teh pain I need days off just to get it pain free again, very frustrating...

This sounds EXACTLY like Osteochondritis Dessicans, which i was just diagnosed with.

Go here:

check that out, it could definitely be the problem. every symptom you have exactly correllates with mine. Seriously, check into Osteochondritis Dessicans of the Talus......