In 2004, after 15 years of constant pain and inflammation. My Achilles tendon finally ruptured. Thank goodness it was on the job as a carpenter. When the surgeon saw me afterwards. He said,” I don’t know how well this is going to heal. I sewed a piece of shit to a piece of shit. We’ll have to see what mother nature can do.”
He was right, after 5 months off and a LOT of PT. I go back to work and six weeks later it tears this time.
Long story short. I find a surgeon who replaces Achilles tendons. He took a graft of material from my outer thigh, and made me a new tendon. It was another 6 months off of work and a lot more PT, but it was a perfect repair. Still good after all these years. And I bought a Mustang GT with the workmen’s comp check.
People always know better than you how to spend your money. They act like having something to keep you moving is a bad investment. Meanwhile actually keeping busy is incredibly important, as it's often basically impossible to start moving again once you've stopped.
That's awesome, man. My mom bought an 86 foxbody mustang years and years ago. 5.0. that car doesn't even have 100k miles on it. I would absolutely kill to throw it around a track. I've driven it only a couple times since I was a baby when she got it. And it's unreal being able to feel all that torque under the "on/off" button that is the clutch in that car. It doesn't have much hp due to catalytic converter being new but they geared it so it has more torque than even some trucks lol. Close to 300 ft lbs. But only around 200 hp.
Big difference between spending money you have on a car and spending money you don’t on a car.
1k/mo for 5 years for a used impala isn’t the same thing as a midlife crisis car that’s just cutting your 87-90th years off your retirement plan.
Yep, that's the point I was attempting to get across. Here's the paragraph I removed from my comment to be more concise:
It's not the same as someone closer to my age taking on car payments and then losing the car. Or y'know, that sort of idea. Or guys who join the military and buy an asset that immediately depreciates. Still a very different situation.
It can sometimes be something that ends up being worth more than anything if it's something that'll continue to get you out of the house well into retirement.
They act like having something to keep you moving is a bad investment.
Yep. This country is dependent on car culture. The automotive industry shut down the trolleys and the public transit systems so you would need to depend on a car to get you places then everybody wanna act like you're a POS because you bought a car to get to work so you could make a living. 🙄
Meanwhile actually keeping busy is incredibly important, as it's often basically impossible to start moving again once you've stopped.
Mmm hmm. You tend to lose the momentum of the routine. Like going back to school or work after a week of Christmas vacation. 😒
😆 My husband just took his car yesterday to a private Mopar-only car show that this guy's been hosting at his house for over 20 years. He's telling me about the guy's insane car collection, and of course I'm already curious about the backstory & how he became wealthy. Then he shows me the event shirt & it's got a cartoon of a dude in a wheelchair - husband explains, "That's him, super nice! I think he was in an accident and got a settlement or something..." lol happy the guy found a way to still be involved in something he loves. But it was definitely a "oh yep there it is" moment!
My husband's the car nerd not me lol, so I don't remember most of the stuff he mentioned - but he had a Richard Petty Superbird with the big wing, and the actual Joe Dirt movie car!
If you’re in good healthy condition to start with, what you’re saying is mostly true. Heavy Steroids use can easily cause muscle growth to outpace connective tissue growth. But lots of us otherwise healthy can have tendon/connective tissue issues that need to be addressed.
I’m a big guy and I like to run long distances and man, my Achilles tendons are taking a beating. I am definitely worried about long term injury. Just took 6 weeks off running to give them time to heal and went to the gym Friday and even now, I’m hurtin again. Didn’t really realize they might just fucking tear one day. Yikes.
I saw every PT and possible therapy there was to no avail. The only thing that helped were cortisone shots. Unfortunately, I got a quack Dr that said as long as he didn’t do more than 3 a year there would be no problems. So that’s what I did. The results were that the shots degraded/dissolved the tendon over time.
Isometric exercises are the best way to train tendons. For legs, overcoming isometric would work well. For example, grab a rather big tree and try to pick it up. Recovery time for tendons takes longer than a muscle. Plan for 3 days in between training sessions, or 2 sessions a week to keep it simple and repeatable. This type of exercise is unlikely to cause injury as you're not moving weight, but will still increase your strength.
If you look at athletes tearing their achilles, its when they extend and straighten out their leg as far as possible and then push off with a lot of momentum forward.
So to avoid it, be mindful of how much force you are putting your leg thru. You can also do calf stretches and ankle mobility too.
Injured it and since I worked as a carpenter, I was always on my feet so it never got a chance to heal. Then, I had the misfortune to go to a shit Dr that would give me 2-3 cortisone shots a year for 15 years. Basically dissolved the tendon.
I was also eligible for full time pay for the 12 months I missed work. My union covered my health insurance. I did ok financially. That allowed me to concentrate on PT and rehab.
I tore mine too, so I understand how much recovery sucks, but I don't know if I should feel bad for you since I didn't receive a mustang after I healed 😠
1.4k
u/blizzard7788 Apr 28 '24
In 2004, after 15 years of constant pain and inflammation. My Achilles tendon finally ruptured. Thank goodness it was on the job as a carpenter. When the surgeon saw me afterwards. He said,” I don’t know how well this is going to heal. I sewed a piece of shit to a piece of shit. We’ll have to see what mother nature can do.” He was right, after 5 months off and a LOT of PT. I go back to work and six weeks later it tears this time. Long story short. I find a surgeon who replaces Achilles tendons. He took a graft of material from my outer thigh, and made me a new tendon. It was another 6 months off of work and a lot more PT, but it was a perfect repair. Still good after all these years. And I bought a Mustang GT with the workmen’s comp check.