1st time on the court since February

[chollyred]

Back in February, I broke my heel chasing down a lob. The podiatrist put me in heel lifts to shorten the Achilles, told me to stay off it for 3 weeks, to never go barefoot again, and absolutely no stretching. After all this time, I was still not getting much better. Any long periods on my feet, or any running at all was still causing excruciating pain.

Finally fed up with the lack of progress, I went to an orthopedist last week. His x-rays show no evidence of a break. He said I definitely have a heel spur, but recommended no surgery due to possible damage of the Achilles. Instead, he wants me to stretch, stretch, stretch, and ice, ice, ice...

There was enough improvement in the first week, that I took my grandson out to the courts. I didn't push very hard, and let a lot of balls go that I would normally chase down, but felt great to get back out. Hopefully, barring further injury, I may be ready for league play for the spring season.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by chollyred

Back in February, I broke my heel chasing down a lob. The podiatrist put me in heel lifts to shorten the Achilles, told me to stay off it for 3 weeks, to never go barefoot again, and absolutely no stretching. After all this time, I was still not getting much better. Any long periods on my feet, or any running at all was still causing excruciating pain.

Finally fed up with the lack of progress, I went to an orthopedist last week. His x-rays show no evidence of a break. He said I definitely have a heel spur, but recommended no surgery due to possible damage of the Achilles. Instead, he wants me to stretch, stretch, stretch, and ice, ice, ice...

There was enough improvement in the first week, that I took my grandson out to the courts. I didn't push very hard, and let a lot of balls go that I would normally chase down, but felt great to get back out. Hopefully, barring further injury, I may be ready for league play for the spring season.

Sounds like the first guy wasted a bunch of your time.

Congrates on getting back. I banged my heel pretty badly years back and that's a scary pain.

[ruerooo]

How are you feeling? How often are you practicing?

Are you doing any other conditioning -- Pilates to strengthen supporting muscles, for (hopefully) less stress on the tendon, or anything like that?

[chollyred]

Originally Posted by ruerooo

How are you feeling? How often are you practicing?

Are you doing any other conditioning -- Pilates to strengthen supporting muscles, for (hopefully) less stress on the tendon, or anything like that?

Feeling pretty good, but haven't been able to practice. Just now getting to the point where I can move around some. Doing lots of calf and hamstring stretches. Concentrating on diet and exercise to lose excess weight to help remove some of the stress on the joints and ligaments. Taking it real slow to avoid further injury/aggravation.

[3fees]

welcome back

[Lil123]

good news is that you're back! ...A word of caution however. Understand that during the months off many of the muscles you used for tennis have atrophied a bit. ..Be careful to gradually increase your playing time or you risk injuring a wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip flexor, etc.... If something is sore from playing DON'T return to the court until the pain has gone away. ..I know a lot of guys who took a lot of time off to recover from one injury only to quickly cause another b/c they immediately resumed their previous playing schedule.