Torn Peroneal Tendon

On November 1, 2020, I felt it. Pain. A lot of it. Something happened, but a lot of things were happening. I was on mile 23 of the marathon and my body was giving everything it could. There were many pains to be had, as well as joys, and then I finally crossed the finish line.

Fast forward a year and a half later, this same pain was still present. I tried everything I could, from therapy, rest, shot, training, massages, ice, heat, salt, boot, and still no real improvement. The first time I saw some improvement was with deep tissue work at the gym club that I started working at – it was TB12, a sports therapy based out of and in partnership with Equinox.

They helped, and I wanted to continue, so I said let’s get an MRI, so we have the whole picture. I got the MRI, and this is where my fears were confirmed: I had a torn peroneal tendon.

Now I will go into what I felt during this whole time as I know one of the questions, I was asking myself was: is it torn or not?

One thing to note is that I got an x-ray fairly early, and nothing was seen on it and then I received a shot which got rid of the pain for two days and then it came back. This confirmed that it was the peroneal tendon. The diagnosis was peroneal tendonitis, which in fact there was this case as well due to all the inflammation, trauma, and repetitive movement of the marathon combined with the way my foot was and I ran.

For a torn tendon, here were my signs.

Acute trauma

I felt something snap. It was almost like a cracked knuckle type feeling. There was just a feel of something moved, snap, and then immediate pain afterwards. A lot more pain. I felt in that moment that something happened, but the severity of it, I couldn’t really pinpoint and wasn’t my largest concern at the moment.

If there is something that you can recall happening and there being a sudden change in pain, then it is certainly something I would get checked out. We all know there are many times that there is an unknown pain and/or even a scary feeling, fall, etc. that happens and then later in the day or after a day or two it goes away. With a tear, this isn’t the case, which brings me to my next sign.

The pain isn’t going away

There is constant pain from morning to night. With me, I would say the pain was around 90% of the time. I slept well, and I think this was a combination of me being in a position where there was no weight being put on my ankle, as well as me being tired from the day’s work. The second I woke up though, I would feel the pain. If you are waking up to the pain, I would say it is something to get checked out.

There were times where I didn’t feel it and felt hopeful like walking on even ground for an extended period, but then the second I got on a sidewalk or in a car, it came right back.

More pain with more range and force

When it came to moving my ankle, I was able to move it, but the further I tried to flex or extend it and the more weight I put on it, the more it hurt. And this always happened. I tried exploring range, some days not past pain and other days past pain, and nothing seemed to work as far as improving it. Looking back, I simply probably just built more of a tolerance for it.

If it is a pain that gradually worsens as you go about your day, this could be a sign of tear as the inflammation starts to build.

Swelling not severe, but present

When it came to inflammation, it didn’t seem like anything I haven’t seen before, but there was certainly swelling present. And if I had a day or two where there was more activity than usual, it would start to swell. There wasn’t really any bruising throughout that I can recall, but a steady swell on the outside part of my ankle where the injury and pain was.

If swelling doesn’t seem to subside, even after ice, elevation, and rest, then this is something I would get checked out via an MRI.

Instability/weakness

Finally, there was a noticeable weakness and instability in my ankle. This was aside from the pain and was most noticeable when walking on my toes. Jump rope was tough for me on the left foot simply because of the pain and I didn’t want to bear through it. Walking on my toes resulted in some pain but nothing major. However, it was obvious how my ankle would just roll out into eversion. Even being mindful of this, I struggled keeping foot and heel upright.

Balancing was also more difficult than I think it needed to be and I’m sure me working out the leg and foot less than normal had something to do it, but it still seemed like I had to devote more focus than usual to perform these tasks. If there is a balance, weakness, instability issue, it is something I would recommend getting checked out.

Finally, I understand that an MRI can be costly and not always do we have the means. I fell in this camp and (probably more so), I didn’t want to face the truth of it actually being torn. I understand we all have a timeline and process of going about things and I do find listening to your body to be super important.

With that being said, if you do find yourself with a hunch that something may be off, answers from an MRI will always help, whether good or bad.

I wish you the best of luck and in the end, it’s us trying to heal what matters.

Thank you for your time.