After I had my Achilles tendon lengthened about a year
ago, I found that I was still tripping over the right foot. I thought I was walking
though my gait correctly. But alas, as I watched my reflection I could see I
was pulling my foot around the gait instead of through it. This made me limp
just as bad as I had before. I was very frustrated about my walk. The end
result of the first surgery was successful but, I still limped. Especially,
when I was tired.
Finally, I went back to Dr. Carpenter and asked him
for some physical therapy. His reply was, “You already know the exercises, just
do them. You don’t need physical therapy.” At first I was happy with that news.
But, as I did my exercises I realized I needed to see a therapist in order to
make certain I was doing the exercises correctly. I returned again to the
doctor’s office again and asked for some physical therapy. He still said, “No, you don’t need it.” As a result, I relearned
my old walk. I swung the leg around the gait instead of through the gait and
still had a noticeable limp.
Papa was furious with the doctor. He asked me to make
a third appointment and he met me at the Doctor’s office. After introductions
were made, my father went straight to the point. He asked Dr. Carpenter, “Why
isn’t my daughter receiving the physical therapy that she has requested?” The
doctor replied to my father saying, “She doesn’t need it. She already knows how
to do the exercises. It is not warranted.” My father became very angry and then
he responded, “How dare you tell my daughter she doesn’t need Physical Therapy.
She wants to walk through the gait and not around it. If you don’t give her the
therapy that she requested I will report you to the American Medical
Association.”
The Doctor finally relented and I got my physical
therapy but it was too late. Finally, I went to a physical therapist a year
later. The therapist was very surprised that my doctor didn’t prescribe the
therapy which would have helped me immensely in returning to a normal walk.
I worked hard on doing the exercises.
One day I decided to ride my bike to the therapist’s
office. I told my parents that I could do this because I wanted to see if biking
really did help stretch the Achilles Tendon. After I arrived, I walked into the therapists office and hoped the she would notice.
Just as I predicted she noticed immediately that my foot was able to be
manipulated very easily. She asked me what I did and I said, “I rode my bike.”
She was amazed that I was able to ride such a long distance but, I knew I could
do it. I’ve ridden my bike so many a times. After each ride I walked normally
for approximately ten minutes before the heel would start to pull up. Walking on
my heel was such an exhilarating feeling for me. This caused me to walk slower
and making sure the heel touched the floor in a normal fashion.
Sometimes, I felt like I was doing the exercises for
no reason. Seeing my shadow bobbing up and down clued me in that my limp had
returned. At times I would trip and fall and skinned both knees and elbows. It
was quite embarrassing. As the years
flew by, I tripped more frequently and most often I was able to catch myself. But
sometimes it was quite embarrassing for me after tripping and falling. Some
people would help me up others just stared. I would reprimand myself at times because
I wasn’t able to keep my right foot from rotating outward or tripping over the
foot. Oh, how frustrating it was.
