I was always told as a child, "You have flat feet, wear orthotics." I started running after I had my second son in 2008 and quickly developed Achilles issues. I ran the Philly marathon in 2010, competed in a handful of triathlons, and trained for a second marathon in 2011 but never ran it. I had to stop running altogether. The pain just wasn't worth it.
I found the sport I truly love in February of 2012 when I walked into a Crossfit gym for the fist time. At the owner's encouragement, I saw a sports chiropractor for my Achilles issues. He told me he could help me with the pain but not the actual problem because it was structural. I saw a podiatrist who sent me to Dr. Daniel at Rothman. Famous last words by the podiatrist were "A surgical consult doesn't automatically mean surgery." Right...Dr. Daniel took one look at me and started to outline the surgery - four pinpricks in my Achilles to lengthen it, remove the posterior tibial tendon that was so damaged, shift another tendon, cut my heel, shift it, and put in a three inch screw. And then he outlined the recovery. Needless to say, I cried that night to my husband but we scheduled it for a few months out. I had my left foot fixed November of 2013. I was back in the Crossfit gym in January of 2014 with the owner writing my programming directly for me. I had my right foot fixed May of 2014 and was back to the gym in July of 2014.
There were three things I expected never to be able to do again, even after Dr. Daniel fixing my feet - jump rope, box jump, and run. As of last night, I was able to jump rope, completing the third on my list of things I never thought I would be able to do again.
The journey is still continuing but without Dr. Daniel at the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, my life would not be as fulfilling as it is today. Last week my 6 year old said "you can't catch me!" I chased him around our kitchen and living room and caught him. I said "Mama has two new feet now! I can catch you." I was never able to run with my boys, ages 6 and 8, and now I can keep up with them. I have so many people that helped me along the way but Dr. Daniel is top of the list!
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