uncommon heel injury
Patrick Allossery
new pair of Bauer 4000 skates. While some might consider this post
inappropriate for this newsgroup (after all, it's a hockey newsgroup, not
a health newsgroup) I'm hoping one or more of you hockey players will
have encountered this kind of injury in the past and be able to help me.
Here's the problem: The skates fit too tightly on the heel of my right
foot. As a result, the bursa sac, which protects the achilles tendon
where it enters the heel bone, was bruised and became inflamed. After a
time, as I continued to play and also because even my shoes would
aggravate it, the sac became permanently enlarged.
In other words, I now have a bump on the back of my heel. In some cases
such as this, I'm told by my doctor, the heel bone, itself, will grow at
the point of injury. However, in my case, an X-ray has shown there is no
bone growth. Apparently, the bump is composed of scar tissue, gel-like
substances within the bursa sac, etc.
In any case, my concern is how can I go back to playing hockey without
re-injuring the bursa sac? If the skates caused the bursa sac injury back
when there was no lump, I fear they will be much more likely to do so
again, now that there's a lump there waiting to be aggravated.
Has anyone had, or heard about, this skate-related problem? If so, do you
know what can be done about it? Can skates be custom fitted to protect
bump? I remember reading Doug Gilmore had surgery on his heel last
off-season to remove a bone spur. Was his problem the same as mine?
Hope to hear from you soon,
Patrick Allossery
(Please reply to the newsgroup or to me personally at: all...@io.org.)