by Kathy Garrett
(Parkersburg, WV)
My 9 yr old suffered a severe traumatic sprain with torn tendons in her left foot at age 5. It took several weeks of rest, pain medication and therapy for her to regain full use of her foot. It also left her with this pea-size nodule on her AT. She was already "blessed" with weak ankles and a passion for ballet. We have just enrolled her in ballet 2 weeks ago. Three days ago she attempted roller skating and then yesterday was accidentally hit in the back of he ankle, exactly on that nodule. She dropped to the floor in agony. She is unable to place any weight on it, nor is she able to flex it towards her or away. The top and sides are slightly swollen and behind each ankle bone and on the tendon itself, we are unable to touch without her crying out in pain. The pain radiates upwards from the nodule @ 2" before she is pain free to the touch. This, unfortunately, is not the first time this has happened since she was five. I have asked the doctors if this was Achilles Tendonitis or Chronic pain that she will have to live with and I get no concrete, satisfying response. Just more lost school days, a little girl in pain and alot of frustration. Dated 09-30-2009.
Hi Kathy,
If she is in that much pain and cannot stand on it, you have make sure she does not have a partial tear of the achilles tendon. It would not be surprising since it sounds like she has an inherent weakness in the achilles tendon to begin with.
Once this problem is resolved, you might want to look into a brace to protect the achilles tendon so it does not become a chronic problem.
Marc Mitnick DPM
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