My sports active wife shares some similarities with the famous Trevor Francis.

Not only were they both born in Plymouth. They both completely ruptured their Achilles tendons playing football. Francis suffered the injury early in his playing career at Birmingham City in the 1970`s. He was able to get over the injury playing for top clubs and England. Penny snapped hers in May 2004. Thankfully both were able to walk again without a permanent limp.

It was frustrating for her because there was nothing to do but to have lots of rest, time and patience as the damaged tendon, which was stitched together, healed over a period of 6-9 months.  I was keen to add massages to the ankle to compliment any rehabilitation treatment she received from the Outpatients Physio at Good Hope Hospital. 

 The tendon is a contradiction of terms. Named after the Greek Mythological Warrior Achilles, it is one of the strongest tendons in the body. It can stand up to five times your own body weight. Yet as you get older it can be susceptible to rupture.  Usually squash players (over the age of 40 years) suffer the injury playing on the hard surface of the court. Penny did it by partaking in a `gentle` game of football while supervising her schoolkids during playtime on a residential course in Staffordshire.

In every case of a snapped Achilles tendon, there is a classic sign and symptom of a loud `crack` and a sharp pain like being kicked or `shot` in the back of the leg.  A player once said to me that he turned to elbow the opponent who kicked him but then realised that he was standing on his own. There was no one there. There would be an immediate loss of function. The athlete would be unable to place their foot on the ground and would have to be carried off. I was interested to speak to several background staff at Boldmere who have also suffered this injury during their own playing careers. 

Thankfully with Penny, I was able to get her into Good Hope hospital on that Saturday.  The Surgeon performed a 90-minute operation on the tendon that would have frayed like the hairs of a horses tail.

Her right leg was encased in a plaster from her toes to her knee for 3 months. She now sports a fairly neat scar at the back of her heel from the nine stitches following surgery. The foot was regularly examined and encased in plaster on three more occasions through the three months as the healing tendon was gradually repositioned to take her body weight.

She has returned to her job as a Classroom Learning Assistant at  `Coppice` School, Sutton Coldfield and took up more gentile sports like cycling and swimming as it can still be sore when she is on her feet all day.