OK welcome to MY world!!!
I suffered from achilles tendonitis for a few years - taking a couple of weeks off to rest it and it always got better. Well, not always - last year it didn't get better but rather worse during basketball. It didn't get better in the few weeks between basketball and softball. I got physical therapy and massage therapy and it started to get better. During a college softball game (1 out before the game was over) SNAP! My achilles tendon completely ruptured on April 29 - surgery on May 4. To add insult to injury - when it snapped and I went down, I landed on my right wrist and fractured it. That made my recovery a lot more difficult.
Now, the therapy and massage treatments were good. The massage therapist specialized in sports massage. She discoverd that my gastrox and solieus (sp) muscles were "glued" together and she was breaking those loose. I have worn orthopaedic inserts for years so while they help they don't keep this from happening. I'm convinced that one of the contributing factors was the shoes I was wearing. I had been wear Adidas shoes that were similar to the Nike Shox. These types of shoes allow the heel to compress more and "over stretch" the achilles. Another thing - do NOT, NOT, NOT allow a doc to inject you with cortizone and take prednisone very, very, VERY sparingly. I am also convinced that my podiotrist sticking a needle in my heel contributed to my demise.
I am back on the court - amazingly - but I am struggling a LOT. Actually I'm having more difficulties from my "good" leg from favoring it so much. Guys, if you are having problems, take it seriously. Get some treatment on your leg! Stretch, stretch, stretch and then stretch some more. Get a trainer/physical therapist to show you the proper stretches. Don't think you know how to do it - get help.
The tear actually isn't as painful as you might think - lol. It hurts like h3ll but the pain sort of comes in waves. The surgery only takes a couple of hours - then your world turns upside down. The recovery is the frustrating part. I'm almost 9 months out from the accident and still struggle going down stairs and walking up and down hilly grades. I go to sleep with ice on my legs most nights. While I have had some normal games this year, I have had games this year where it was difficult to make it up and down the court. My friends laugh because I also joke about loosing that initial quick burst of speed I once had -
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Feel free to ask me any questions that I haven't answered. I am passionate about this as you might guess. I'd even exchange phone numbers with someone that wants to talk about it to get some more details.
In a nutshell: see a podiatrist and get orthotics, visit an orthopaedist and ask him to send you to physical therapy, find a massage therapist for treatment in addition to the PT, walk in a pool, stretch, stretch, stretch and then ICE, ICE, ICE. I actually stretch in the morning before I go to work.
Sorry this is so long but if it helps one person it's worth it.