wafflecombine wrote:Here is the vid of the Cooke hit on Karlsonn. Holy crap does that look painful. I knew someone once who broke their Achilles. It was a long, slow, viciously painful recovery process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvoMpbdA-0A
I ruptured my left achilles in 2001 while rounding third and heading for home in softball. I intially thought I was hit in the back of the leg by the ball on a throw home. I did a big barrell roll and had my team cracking up and I got up complaining about getting hit by the ball... but was told the ball was still in the outfield. I then realized my foot was dangling there like a dead fish and I sat back down. The catcher then walked up to me and tagged me out.
A firefighter was on the other team and came over - he told me right away I had ruptured my achilles. It hurt pretty bad for about 5 minutes, but then their was no pain at all. I got a buddy to drive my 5 speed home as the dead fish in my cleat could not clutch and I slept that night without any pain medication.
In the morning I went to the clinic and they sent me right to the hospital. I had surgery the same afternoon. The surgeon said it was like sewing two mops back together. What still puzzles me today is I went into surgery with a new pair of underwear on. I came out without any underwear. Why did I lose my gonch when they were operating on my lower leg?
I was in a cast for 10 weeks. There was pain for only the first few days, and that was due to the surgical scar. When the cast was taken off, my ankle had no range of motion and my calf muscle had shrank alot. To this day, my left calf is about 1 inch smaller in diameter than my right.
I got back to hockey that winter and my ugly, warped and extra-wide achilles did not fit well in my boot. Right away the scar began to rub raw in my skate and I would finish each game with a bloody sock. It actually got so bad I quit playing for a few years. I then met another guy with the same problem and he told me about some taping tricks and a guy who customizes skates. It helped alot and I'm back to playing again, but the 7 inch purple surgical scar remains.
I didn't have much pain with mine. Karlsson did look in alot of pain - I assume it was due to a cut over a rupture. Regardless, the recovery time is long not due to pain, but due to the time needed to heal an important tendon and the atrophy of the leg and ankle after being in a cast for 10 weeks. How long was Bieksa gone again with his achilles cut?