Seeking info from others who have torn an ankle tendon

Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.

I am a 73 year old retired male who is in pretty good shape. Since I retired in January of 2015, I’ve done quite a bit of long-distance hiking/backpacking. Some trails that may be recognized are the Appalachian Trail, Colorado Trail, Arizona Trail and numerous shorter trails. This year, in early May, I was on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and 50 miles into what was suppose to be a 1,000 mile or more hike. I sprained my ankle but kept hiking. This same ankle was sprained in 2016. The next day while still hiking the PCT, there was a loud pop and that was the end of my hike. An MRI showed a complete tear of my left ankle tendon. I have a radiology report of the MRI if posting it is of interest.

Here is my dilemma. I’m a disabled vet, so my health care is from the Veterans Administration Hospital. The podiatrist there took one look at the MRI and report and said, “You need an operation.” I said, “Schedule it.” And then he walked it back. He said there was a 50% chance an operation would fail and my ankle could end up worse. He said I probably didn’t want to do an operation. I can go on for a couple of paragraphs about our back and forth. Suffice it to say, I accepted the risk. He on the other hand sent me to three months of physical therapy (PT).

Two weeks into PT, I saw a private practice podiatrist for a second opinion. He said I need an operation and described one that he had successfully performed. However, in the end, he said to finish PT.

Well, I finished PT. My ankle is still not right and is painful. The VA doctor still doesn’t want to operate. He has ordered another three months of PT.

This is my question for the forum. Is this normal? Have others with a similar injury had their doctor not operate to try to correct the tear and instead employed a recommendation of PT and what is essentially on-going pain management? If this is my life now and an operation is probably not a good choice, I will accept that. It just bothers me that both podiatrists, first thing, said I need an operation, and then recommended against it. I don’t understand this.