Everyone knows that physical pain is only part of a disease, but not many people really stop to think about the effects that a disease can have on a person psychologically. Genetic diseases, such as the one discussed below, can be difficult on both the patient and their family. Achilles tendonitis caused by a shortened or tight Achilles tendon, puts a person at risk for developing bone spurs, tendinosis and bursitis. These bone spurs can grow into the Achilles tendon causing extreme pain. The main issues that affect a person with a shortened Achilles tendon are mobility, psychological health and treatment side effects.
The pain that the conditions mentioned above along with a bone spur brings is painful and difficult to cope with because it is on your foot, which you use for most activities. This pain can be described as a sharp, hot, burning sensation on the back of your heel. After feeling this most people won’t want to do any activity, firstly because of the pain. If you had this condition, you wouldn’t be able to do all the things that you would normally do. You wouldn’t be able to go on hikes, go to the gym or even do a simple thing such as walking very far. This would be very frustrating for anyone that enjoys doing even the smallest amount of activity and may feel like a wimp for not participating (which isn’t the case). Everyone knows that if you can’t exercise, you are prone to gaining weight and that’s what happens in most cases. Gaining weight would make recovery from this condition difficult and in turn you would gain even more weight—a vicious cycle develops.
Being unable to do any physical activity would start to make you feel down. You would practically be trapped inside your home from being unable to walk to where you would like to get to. Instead, you would have to take the bus or drive. Most of us enjoy walking somewhere instead of driving everywhere. Sure, driving is easier but it is nice to enjoy the sunlight and fresh air instead.
When you would eventually get to the point of getting surgery to correct your foot (after various more conservative treatments have failed) you would be happy to get your regular life back. For the first six weeks you would have to wear a post-surgical cast and for six weeks wouldn’t be able to put any weight on your foot. This would be very difficult because you would have to rely entirely on your family for everything. You wouldn’t be able to even get up by yourself to use the washroom! You would feel completely physically inept and like a child. You would be stuck inside but in an even worse position than you were before the surgery and would have to rely on people to drive you around. You would feel bad for your family members as you would feel like you were nagging them for every little thing. This could also put a strain on your relationships. After a while they might get tired of having to do every little single thing for you even though they would have the best of intentions. For the next six weeks of recovery you would have to change to a different cast and would be able to put minimum weight on your foot. After that you would start rehab. Rehab for an Achilles tendon is very painful and starts with learning how to mobilize the joint without placing strain on the tendon. This would be very frustrating because you would want to go straight to running, which takes at least four months to work up to for a previously active person. The total healing time is two years—this can be a big emotional strain to both the family and the patient.
In all a short Achilles tendon isn’t life threatening but can compromise the quality of life. This disease can be traced back three generations in my family and therefore I believe it is genetic. This is just one of the many genetic diseases that burden people from day to day. Hopefully we can find cures for genetic diseases that are also ethically correct.
Well researched, I like the embedded text. But where are your references? Blogs?
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