I'm old and broken. Looking at surgical options for tendonosis.

RR

RR

....glutton for punishment.....
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Too many years of beating my body to death has led me here. I'm looking at either a minimally invasive Tenex procedure (if I am a good candidate) or a maximally invasive surgical cleanout and lengthening of my achilles tendons.

I saw one of the main foot and ankle guys at UNC Ortho this morning. He doesn't do the Tenex procedure but two of his colleagues at the UNC tendon center do. He's referring me to them for a consult. He thinks it will work for me but it's really up to the other two docs. If not, then I go back to him for a bigger procedure. Either way, somethings gotta give. Been hurting for a year and a half this time and this isn't my first rodeo with achilles issues.

Anyone else been through Tenex?
 
Tenex is relatively new (2010 or so??), but has a great success rate (>90%).

I have a friend who is a sports med guy in ortho at UNC, and he's a big proponent of it. There are a couple of folks who do it at Duke but haven't heard much about it. I would say if you are a candidate, go for it. No downside.
 
Chuckman said:
Tenex is relatively new (2010 or so??), but has a great success rate (>90%).

I have a friend who is a sports med guy in ortho at UNC, and he's a big proponent of it. There are a couple of folks who do it at Duke but haven't heard much about it. I would say if you are a candidate, go for it. No downside.
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Berkoff? Berkowitz? Those are the two docs my doc mentioned this morning.
 
RR said:
Berkoff? Berkowitz? Those are the two docs my doc mentioned this morning.
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Dave Berkoff. He used to be an emergency med and sports med guy at Duke, left Duke to do only sports med and ortho at UNC. He's an old acquaintance. Ironically, we were working out together once and I dislocated my shoulder, he popped it back in right there. So I guess I owe him a co-pay.
 
My son just his ankle tendons shortened, they were stretched too long from injuries. He’s very athletic and is very happy with the results.
I have forearm tendon inflammation that’s quite painful. This stuff helps us quite a bit.
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Get Off My Lawn said:
My son just his ankle tendons shortened, they were stretched too long from injuries. He’s very athletic and is very happy with the results.
I have forearm tendon inflammation that’s quite painful. This stuff helps us quite a bit.
www.peptidesciences.com

BPC-157

BPC-157 is a penta-decapeptide composed of 15 amino acids. It is a partial sequence of the body protection compound (BPC) that was discovered in and isolated from human gastric juice. Animal studies h...
www.peptidesciences.com www.peptidesciences.com
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I've been using that for about 3 months now. It helped with my tendonitis initially. It helped with some other things even more. It did give me pretty significant stomach cramping when I first used it. I'm a fan overall but I think the bone spurring issue I have is beyond where that can help me. Too much scar tissue and calcification now.
 
I have something similar and they referred to it as a Haglund's bump and said there was not much they could do for it.

I am so lucky that I have bone spurs all over, shoulders, knees, heels, big toes and probably a bunch they haven't found yet. Both shoulders and both big toes already operated on for pain relief.
 
Chuckman said:
Dave Berkoff. He used to be an emergency med and sports med guy at Duke, left Duke to do only sports med and ortho at UNC. He's an old acquaintance. Ironically, we were working out together once and I dislocated my shoulder, he popped it back in right there. So I guess I owe him a co-pay.
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I have an appointment with him on the 12th.
 
RR said:
Too many years of beating my body to death has led me here. …

I saw one of the main foot and ankle guys at UNC Ortho this morning. …
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“Lived the life of Riley.” I had an older (much, MUCH wiser) bro in law who was an iron worker who used to regularly (routinely!) shake his head slowly and admonish me, “You’re really gonna pay a price for doing that (insert some form of self physical abuse working or playing), later in life.”

Ugh. No tenex yet; just want to wish you luck and tell you how relieved I am you didn’t walk into any EmergeOrtho!
 
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Had my appointment Tuesday. Dr. Berkoff thinks Tenex will work for me. May not be able to get all of the spurring but he thinks he will be able to get enough of it to justify NOT doing the big procedure with much longer recovery.

So I go for the first Tenex procedure on the 3rd. Then 2-3 months later he will do the other. So looking like the first six months of the year you can just call me Hopalong.
 
RR said:
Had my appointment Tuesday. Dr. Berkoff thinks Tenex will work for me. May not be able to get all of the spurring but he thinks he will be able to get enough of it to justify NOT doing the big procedure with much longer recovery.

So I go for the first Tenex procedure on the 3rd. Then 2-3 months later he will do the other. So looking like the first six months of the year you can just call me Hopalong.
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I hope Dave does right by you.

I just recommended him to another member here.*

*I receive no financial compensation for referral, nor any other benefit.
 
RR said:
It was a successful procedure. He was able to get all the calcification and diseased tissue. In a boot for six weeks. On crutches for a month of that. Then we do it all over again.
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Best of luck.

Work the plan they have laid out for you.
 
Here's to hoping you have a full and speedy recovery!
 
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Tomorrow is my two week post op follow up. It is by telephone, which is nice. Don't wanna trek into Chapel Hill.

I am supposed to be on two crutches until they release me to one crutch tomorrow. Candidly I've been on one crutch around the house for about a week. And the last few days or so I've been not using crutches at all if I'm just getting up to go to the bathroom and back. If I go outside or use stairs or anything I bring the crutches.

As part of my follow up I had to upload a pic of the surgical incision to MyChart today.

PXL_20240117_193435220.jpg

It's amazing what they can do through such a tiny incision these days. I've had worse from stepping on Legos.

So far so good. When I'm laying in bed or on the couch doing range of motion exercises my right ankle moves smoothly now where my left one still pops crackles and crunches. Looking forward to wrapping up the recovery on this side and getting the other one done.
 
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Sounds like a step in the right direction! :D

I don't know if this would work for you, but you might check it out & see what your Doc thinks if you're going to go through this again soon.

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I had one when I ruptured & repaired my achilles tendon. It was great in that it allowed me to get around with my hands free. Cheap, at the time, too. I think I paid $150 delivered in late 2015.
 
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I would try laser light therapy first. It worked great for me.

I figured it was a scam but my chiropractor did it for free.

Figured maybe it was a placebo effect but it’s been 5 years.
 
RR I missed this thread. Glad to hear the procedure was successful and you are healing. Prayers for a fast recovery and success on the other one.
 
Chdamn said:
I would try laser light therapy first. It worked great for me.

I figured it was a scam but my chiropractor did it for free.

Figured maybe it was a placebo effect but it’s been 5 years.
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Massage therapy on the calf muscle and foot muscles will help tons also.... usually when a tendon is pissed off it's the muscles attached to it that are tight and the tendon is doing double duty
 
I really hope this works for you ,I personally know how bad Achilles Tendinitis hurts.

I have trouble with my left Achilles right where you have the incision. My orthopedic guy says I'm over using my body for my age. 9-14 miles a day at work. This has been a struggle on and off with pain for 7 years. When it's bothering me it hurts day and night.
 
Dirtydirtysouf said:
Massage therapy on the calf muscle and foot muscles will help tons also.... usually when a tendon is pissed off it's the muscles attached to it that are tight and the tendon is doing double duty
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I've been through it all. PT, massage, dry needling, shoe lifts.

Mine had just been damaged too many times and too much scarring and calcification built up.
 
Dirtydirtysouf said:
Sorry, I was talking about prolonged after care for the massage therapy stuff.....
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Gotcha. And yeah you're not wrong. My PT told me my calves are very tight. Stretching and flexibility exercises are in the long term game plan for sure.
 
RR said:
Gotcha. And yeah you're not wrong. My PT told me my calves are very tight. Stretching and flexibility exercises are in the long term game plan for sure.
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Well definitely listen to them.....my old ass still stretches everyday just to stay healthy to lift
 
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Dirtydirtysouf said:
So how's the post surgery going? U making any progress?
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The side I had surgery on is worlds better than it was and continuing to improve daily. I'm almost a month out of the boot now. Rehabbing with stretching and strengthening exercises. I go back April 4 for the other side to be done. I'm looking forward to it.
 
RR said:
The side I had surgery on is worlds better than it was and continuing to improve daily. I'm almost a month out of the boot now. Rehabbing with stretching and strengthening exercises. I go back April 4 for the other side to be done. I'm looking forward to it.
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Well my thoughts are with you on the next one buddy!!!!
 
Dirtydirtysouf said:
Well my thoughts are with you on the next one buddy!!!!
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I appreciate that! Being in a boot kinda sucks and is inconvenient when you're busy with life, but I'll take the short term inconvenience for long term pain relief.
 
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