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Peroneal Tendon

snowski/swimmouse

Angel Diva
Does anyone have experience with tearing the Peroneal Tendon? I'd never heard of it before tearing it just pushing myself up from the snow on a medium slope.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
Sounds like ouch. Sorry to hear that!
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Which way did yours tear? My Mammoth ankle injury involved, among other things, tearing the peroneus brevis - it was split lengthwise. Apparently it couldn’t be fixed, so the doctor did a tendon transfer. Pretty sure that means they cut out the damaged part and then sewed the ends to the peroneus longus. When I tried googling things they all seemed to be the other way around, but I’m assuming it's still the same principle. I think that was the main reason for the total no weight bearing period - had to keep all stress from the tendons.
 

snowski/swimmouse

Angel Diva
Yours sounds much worse. The biggest problem was taking a step forward with that ankle back. The doctor said I could ski because a ski boot would be the best support. But the first three weeks I couldn't stand the pain the boot caused. This past week I've done 3 days on green slopes prior to today and ~very~ carefully at that. Today at my Vermont home mountain, Suicide Six, I started out the same way, but built up confidence and speed as the day went on and eventually did just about everything open on the mountain albeit slowly and carefully. I know that with a cracked rib, too, I absolutely cannot afford to fall for at least four more weeks. So, I must be a SUPER careful mouse at Sunday River this coming week!
I'd just never heard of this tendon before so don't know what to expect. The tendon goes over the bone unnaturally if not super supported. I do know that taping with KT tape makes a ~huge~ difference! Therapy has helped, too.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Me! I hadn't heard of this tendon either. A few years ago in mid Dec. I was standing in the lift line waiting for my pass to be scanned. There were only 3-4 people around. A snowboarder went over the top of the tail of my right ski. He didn't realize he was on my ski so kept pulling me. In order not to fall I braced myself on my left leg. That afternoon I shopped for new boots and had a niggling pain just above my ankle. My leg and ankle hurt the next couple of ski days. I kept trying to ski but I just kept hurting. I also couldn't walk. I thought I sprained my ankle but I had no bruising or swelling. I took a few weeks off from skiing in Jan. and tried again in Feb. By March I gave up and went to PT. The PT's also said I could ski but it was too painful. I spent 6 weeks in PT. I improved but not to the point that I could comfortably ride my bike. Any kind of twisting was still painful. In Aug. I went back to PT and spent another 8 weeks or so working with them. At one point the PT thought my ankle was frozen so he spent several sessions trying to break up the scar tissue. He did use KT tape, dry needling and massage.

I couldn't wear most of my shoes. The 1st PT told me I had a pes cavus foot type and the only kind of arch support I should have would be on the soft side. I wound up giving away all supportive shoes, went to shoes with lower drop and eventually zero drop shoes.

The second round of PT helped but didn't cure me. I felt my entire body was losing strength so I started working with a personal trainer. This gym encourages working out barefoot so I did. It was painful at first, especially any jumping or single leg work. I had no strength on my injured side so we spent a lot of time building strength by doing a lot of single leg work.

I insisted on skiing the second season, I ski 2-3 days per week, but I would have been better off staying home and working with the trainer. The next summer I worked out with the trainer 3x's per week and that's when the pain finally started calming down and stopped bothering me.

The second year I stuck to mostly blue runs. No bumps, no hard pack, powder, steeps. For some reason flatter green runs seemed to bother me the most. I skied narrower skis 83 width, they seemed to put less stress on my leg.

This injury was probably the most painful and longest injury I ever had. I hope yours heals much faster than mine did.
 

snowski/swimmouse

Angel Diva
Oh, wow! I definitely hear some similarities, though I hope that I don't take that long to resolve it. Yep, that stuff on one leg wasn't working for me! It IS getting better, but ~very~ slowly. And, yes, my entire body has lost strength over the past month for sure. I'm used to being sooo active. This week I'm definitely much better on the skis than I am walking though that, too, has improved. I think I'm going to take away from you, Jenny & Little Lightening, to continue to be super careful and hopefully not let this get to something chronic. I'd just never heard of such a thing, but it only took me from Saturday afternoon to office opening Monday morning to seek my (skiing) doctor's opinion!
Thanks to you both for sharing!
And, yes, no bruising or swelling or discoloration confused me....
 
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ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Omigosh this sounds awful! I’ve never heard of this before! Healing vibes to you both.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
After PT I got better, to a point. That's why I sought out a personal trainer who is trained in functional fitness and used a screening program called the Functional Movement Screen to guide him. I started with fundamental movements, such as pushing, pulling, hinging, squatting, planks, etc. All body weight. As those movements improved we added kettlebells, trx, weights, agility. If I recall correctly single leg work came later and often done with the TRX. Side to side lunges were the most difficult and painful. I'm still following this program but at a more advanced level. So far so good.
 

Divegirl

Angel Diva
I've had peroneal tendonitis off and on for the last couple years. According to my boot fitter there is a nerve (peroneal nerve?) in the vicinity - swelling will put pressure on the nerve causing pain. I learned that when I tried to rip my ski boot off w/o unbuckling it as the pain was so intense. Ice, KT Tape, Epsom soaks and acupuncture have reduced the swelling and pain and flare ups. No more walking bare foot. Once the swelling was gone, no more boot problems.
 

snowski/swimmouse

Angel Diva
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Jenny. Little Lightening gets the "worse" prize. I've just learned that I don't ever want to get to "tendonitis". Especially since I rarely have a pair of shoes on due to lifelong foot pain!
 

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