Thursday 2 April 2009

The Beginning

Did you ever had a serious injury? Did an accident make you temporarily disabled? Did you ever had to take a long time off from work? Did you had to depend on others?
Well an Achilles tendon rupture is certainly one of does injuries which will immobilise you for at least two months and you will need someone’s help to deal with your everyday life.

Until few weeks ago I wasn’t even sure what exactly the Achilles tendon is, and I wasn’t aware that it can actually tear apart. I had some slight memories about a Greek called Achilles, but nothing worthwhile. I searched for it and I found a quite interesting definition on the Wikipedia site:


“The tendon passes behind the ankle. It is the thickest and strongest tendon in the body. It is about 15 cm long, and begins near the middle of the calf muscle. It serves to attach the gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the heel bone. The soleus is a powerful muscle in the back part of the lower leg. It runs from just below the knee to the heel, and is involved in standing and walking.”


Oauuu! What’s this all about? To be honest I had no idea. If you have a closer look to the downloaded photo it will explain everything. And why Achilles tendon? That’s also an impressing story :)

“The name Achilles' heel comes from Greek mythology. Achilles' mother, the goddess Thetis, received a prophecy of her son's death. In order to protect him, she dipped him into the River Styx, which protected his entire body from harm. However, in order to dip him into the river, she needed to grab onto his heel. During the Trojan War, Achilles was struck on his unprotected heel by a poisoned arrow, which killed him.”




WHERE IT ALL STARTED

It was a gloomy Monday. I finished my work in the office as usual and I was heading for my dance class. To be honest after Saturday I wasn’t sure that I really would like to do further exercises, but I’m a stubborn person :) And on the other hand I really love dancing. I think this was the driving force on the weekend, which made me book 6 dance classes in a row. Actually it was seven, but I skipped the last one. My feet were soar and I literally dragged myself home and fall into the bed.

But hey ho two days later this didn't matter at all and I found myself again on the dance floor with my fellow colleagues. Jumping, turning, more and more….and just when I started to enjoy it the most I felt something very strange. Like someone hit me with a metal bar. First I thought that I stepped too far behind and accidentally came up against something. I turned around to check when a sudden pain hit me in the head. I fall down and than I was already sure that someone stepped on my heel. One of the guys brought me some ice and I started to feel better. I was ready to go home on my own; however I had to realize that this won’t be as easy as I thought.

The teacher gave me a lift, I hardly can thank him for this. My partner started to get worried. I was calm and didn’t really care, I was certain it will get better in few days and I will be back on the “stage” by Wednesday. Although he convinced me to visit the closest Emergency department. That's were my nightmare started.
more to follow

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    I'm really sorry to hear about your injury.
    Hope you will get better as soon as posible. You might want to visit a physiotherapist.

    ReplyDelete