Ack! I've Ruptured My Achilles Tendon!
John Bristowe
My world changed about three days ago when I partially ruptured my Achilles tendon while playing soccer. About 30 minutes into the game, I turned to chase down a loose ball, accelerated two steps, and felt the classic shot-in-the-back-of-the-leg feeling used to describe a rupture of the Achilles tendon. I immediately tumbled to the ground and began to look around to see who had tackled me from behind. When I noticed that there wasn’t anyone near me, I realized that I had suffered a serious injury. A few folks ran over and asked me what was wrong.
My gut reaction was that it was my Achilles tendon. Thinking back, my subconscious mind drew a picture of an elastic band snapping at the moment of my injury. After helping me off the field, a friend of mine took me to the local hospital where a doctor confirmed what I already knew; I had injured my Achilles tendon. At the time of the diagnosis (3 AM), the local orthopedic surgeon wasn’t available to provide a confirmation so I decided to go home and drop back the following day. That was two days ago.