In August of 2018 I was diagnosed with a split tendon in my foot: specifically, “a longitudinal split tear of the peroneus longus tendon at the level of the cuboid.” So what did this mean in simple terms?
Pain, lots of pain, in my foot.
What is a Tendon?
Tendons are primarily made of collagen fibers and are located at the end of a muscle and attach the muscle to bone. When damaged, both tendons and ligaments tend to be slow to heal because they don’t have blood vessels and a steady blood supply like muscles do. For healing to occur, increasing blood flow in the area of the injury is necessary so that oxygen, nutrients and fluids are available to aid in the repair.
In many cases, tendon damage can be repaired with physical therapy, or rest over time. In fact, common recommendations are to:
- Get the pain under control
- Reduce inflammation
- Increase circulation
- Expect a long recovery
Unfortunately for me, I was told that the split in the tendon was unlikely to heal without surgical intervention.
My injury occurred prior to my education about Light Therapy and what it does, which will become the key to why I’m now walking, when I wasn’t expected to be, without surgery. I’ll come back to this later in the blog.
The Medical Assessment
In my case, imaging showed that the Peroneus Longus tendon was split near the cuboid bone (one of the bones in the foot), just before the tendon passed under my foot to connect to the bone of my big toe.
The doctor’s assessment and recommendation was that surgery was the only way to “effectively” fix the problem (ie: the split) as it was unlikely to heal itself and not intervening could cause further damage within the foot as a whole due to stretching, further tearing, weakened muscles, etc. I was told to expect to be in a “boot for a minimum of 9 months to a year”, and use crutches, while it “healed”.
My lifestyle at that time would be greatly impacted, and the pain was significant, so I opted to go the cortisone-injection route to, hopefully, buy myself some time. It helped with the pain but not stabilization of the foot. The problem got worse and the cortisone injections could not be done more than three times in a year. I needed better options but there was more bad news…
I also had a “dying” and deteriorating Talus bone (ankle bone). I was told that if I didn’t have surgery to fuse the ankle, I was risking complete failure of the talus bone, resulting in an inability to walk.
The doctor’s final recommendation was a two-fold surgery: have surgery on the split tendon first, heal from it, and then fuse my ankle. The recovery time was estimated to be about a year and a half, with a boot and crutches. It was a scary, painful and uncomfortable time, and I needed better options.
Foot & Ankle, Meet Light Therapy!
Fast forward to 2019. I had been looking into Light Therapy prior to all of this but 2019 marked the turning point between curiosity and action. I felt I had nothing to lose, so I purchased a “Table Top” Light Therapy panel with Red and Near-Infrared LEDs. I put the outside of my bad foot/ankle about three inches from the panel, turned the panel on, and left my foot there for about five minutes. I did this twice a day, every day. It definitely helped with the pain.
Shortly after I started using the panel, I attended a hands-on Light Therapy course at Photonic Therapy Institute in Sonoita, AZ and met the owner, Kay Aubrey-Chimene. To say the course changed my life is an understatement (why do you think my daughter and I now have our own Light Therapy business)! I was rarin’ to go and put my education to work, so I purchased a set of Photopuncture torches (back then there were only three “colors” available, now there are FIVE!) for highly targeted Light Therapy, as well as a full InLight pad-based Light Therapy system so that I could not only isolate my entire foot, but have a range of pads available to use elsewhere on myself and my dog (that’s a whole other story!).
The Protocol
Here’s how I started:
- Red/Near-Infrared Panel – 5 minutes at a time, twice a day
- Red and Red+ Photopuncture torch – 2-3 minutes at time, several times a day for the pain
- Pad system – 20 minute session, twice a day, every other day, using the large Red & Near-Infrared pad wrapped around my ankle/foot
I was still new to Light Therapy so I fell into the “more is better” trap, which is the belief that if one dose of Light is good, several must be better! Correct dosing, and giving the body time to process and respond to the Light, helps to avoid a healing crisis or “detox” effect. Fortunately, I did not experience that effect!
I had been in so much pain, and tried to fake that I was ok, for so long. Having relief from the pain was a godsend.
All said and done, it took about six months to “heal” enough to walk freely again and have a normal gait.
Remember earlier when I listed the common recommendations for helping a typical tendon injury heal? Well, what I learned from the Light Therapy course is that the biochemical reaction caused by properly applied Light Therapy is proven to:
- Reduce pain
- Increase circulation
- Stimulate cellular repair
Looks familiar, yes? With Light Therapy I was able to alleviate the pain, increase the circulation (which in turn reduced the inflammation), and also do something that isn’t on the other list… stimulate cellular repair to help with healing!
The one that’s missing from the Light Therapy list – “Expect a long recovery”. I was walking normally in 6 months – to some people that’s a long recovery, but for me, that was far better than the recovery time of more than a year associated with the multiple surgeries.
The Medical Follow-Up
I went back to the podiatrist and told her what I had done – I didn’t really get a warm response. Lots of skeptical looks and head-shaking. I asked if we could do another MRI, out of curiosity, to see the changes or progress, and her exact words to me where, “I’m sorry, we do not do MRIs out of curiosity”. I was hoping for more interest, a shared curiosity, or at least a suggestion on other ways we could measure my progress. Instead, I was dismissed at that point and reminded that my Talus bone was still going to be a problem, if the tendon didn’t cause me grief, again, as well.
After Five Years…
I am walking! I still do Light when I get a flare-up from being on my feet for a long time, but I am 100% certain that Light saved me from multiple surgeries, including a fused ankle that likely would have shortened my leg by about 1/4″ after the surgery (on a leg that’s already 1/4″ shorter that the other due to a past hip replacement).
If you would like more information I’m happy to help!
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