MRI of his Peroneal Tendon ©Drew Goldsack
MRI of Peroneal Tendon ©Drew Goldsack
His heart ©Drew Goldsack
I have been having chronic pain along the Peroneal Tendon on the outside of my foot for the better part of a year now. For the most part it didn’t seem too serious and the pain wasn’t enough to keep me from training. It also wasn’t getting any worse so there wasn’t a big cause for concern. A Cortisone shot in September relieved all of the pain and I was back to 100%, or so I thought. Training progressed really well through the fall, I ran one of my fastest 10km road races ever and I was throwing down in my intensity sessions like never before!
In retrospect, the slow start to the ski season may have taken its toll. With the lack of snow I ended up doing a lot more running and perhaps worse, I spent a lot of time skiing on marginal, icy conditions that must have stressed an already unhappy tendon. Just a few days before heading to Europe I was doing some race prep and my foot began to get quite sore…something was definitely wrong. I was getting a lot of pain in my left foot, just under the ankle bone every time I would push off with that leg. I shook it off, telling myself that it was probably just some stiffness and it’d be feeling better by morning. The next day, the team travelled to Golden, B.C. for some tune up races. We had a skate sprint that afternoon and I was looking forward what would be my first actual sprint race of the season. During the warm up, the foot was ok but definitely sore. But as soon as I revved things up it really began to hurt and I wasn’t able to fully push off with that leg. Still under the impression that this was something I could push through I finished the rounds, cooled down and headed back to the hotel to ice the foot and get ready for the next day’s race.
The next morning I got ready for the race and headed out to warm up, after a few steps through the deep soft snow to get to the trail my eyes teared up, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach and I almost passed out from the pain…’Ladies and gentlemen we’ve just lost cabin pressure’…as I put on my skis and took a few strides I knew that I wouldn’t be racing that day. I had yet to come to the realization that I probably wouldn’t be racing at all for a while.
After talking things over with the coaches and our team doctor throughout the day, and less than 24 hours before I was scheduled to leave for Europe we made the difficult decision to pull the plug. The diagnosis was tendonitis, and though this may not sound so bad, tendons are notoriously slow to heal and hard to treat. I spent the better part of the next week in and out of doctor’s offices, doing x-rays, bone scans and MRI’s and going for yet another Cortisone injection, this time directly into the tendon sheath. The injection has helped a bit but is only intended to help speed the healing and not to get me back training any sooner. At the moment all I can do is double pole, being careful not to move the foot too much, upper body and core work in the gym, some arms only swimming and riding the stationary bike with my air cast on.
The prognosis right now is 4-6 weeks before I’ll be back, and at just over two weeks so far, I’d say it’s looking more like six weeks. I’ve had excellent support from our medical team and am doing everything humanly possible to speed the healing process. I’m even trying Nitrous Oxide patches at night which are commonly used to treat high blood pressure and other heart conditions but also have been proven to help heal tendons quicker by dilating blood vessels and promoting better circulation to the area. The only problem is as a side effect they also cause vicious headaches and I wake up in the morning feeling like I’ve been out all night drinking!! Ouch.
I’m doing my best to maintain my shape given the circumstances and have been working a lot with the team psychologist to help maintain my focus and perspective. There’s no magic bullet to recover from an injury, only time and patience. There’s also no sense in getting worked up over things you can’t control. Injuries are never an easy thing to deal with for an athlete but it’s all part of the game. I am confident that I will be back for the second half of the season and stronger than ever!
Diary Extras
Here are a few pictures from my latest MRI, the red arrows point to what I think is my Peroneal tendon. MRIs are actually really cool, pictures don’t do them justice. It’s like having a video camera inside your body, basically an MRI takes a bunch of cross section shots and puts them together so it’s like you’re moving right through the body part. For interest sake, I also attached an MRI of my heart taken as part of a study last summer.
Overheard:
Sara Renner: “Wow Chandra, you’re starting to be really responsible.”
Chandra Crawford: “Nah, just the last few days”
In the Tape Deck:
Album: Ministry of Sound- The Annual 2009
Song: Dance Wiv Me (The Aston Shuffle Remix)- Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome (from The Annual 2009 Album)
Song : The Killers- Human
Song: T.I.- On top of the World
Song:T.I.- Live Your Life [Ft. Rihanna], I’m not a big fan of the rest of the T.I. Album (sorry Crooks) but there’s a few solid songs for sure.
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Check out Ronnie Coleman on YouTube if you`re looking for some lifting lingo to throw around next time you`re in the Gym!!: