Physical Therapy Helped Tracey English Get Back on Her Feet

If you’ve ever struggled with an injury that just won’t quit, Tracey English’s story might resonate with you. A familiar face in Lawrence’s fitness community, being active is in her DNA. That means that there are sometimes literal pain points.

Tracey English

“I had trouble with my Achilles (tendon) years ago when I was teaching step classes at Body Boutique and was diagnosed with tendinosis,” Tracey said. “I took time off from teaching, wore a boot and the pain went away for years and years.”

But in 2022, the pain returned. Over the next two years, she tried two surgical options. Neither resolved the pain. That’s when she turned to her friend, LMH Health physical therapist Andrea Rector, for help.

Andrea said that when Tracey came in, she had chronic tendinopathy of her Achilles tendon. She explained that it likely began as tendinitis, an irritation of the tendon.

“Over time, the makeup of the tendon actually changes and it’s no longer an inflammatory process. When it becomes chronic, the Achilles can’t tolerate much load or stretch and it gets irritated very easily,” Andrea explained.

During her first visit, Andrea put Tracey through a gait evaluation to assess how she walked. It showed that the injury completely changed the way Tracey was walking.

“No one had ever done that assessment for me. Andrea filmed me walking and doing exercises on my left and right side to see the differences in strength,” Tracey said.

The evaluation showed that while Tracey had been nursing her foot, she wasn’t effectively transferring weight and force through the foot. You’ll often hear this called loading. Andrea explained that it’s important for patients with tendinopathy to put load on the tendon and work it so they can get back to their original state.

“When there’s an issue with your gait, it can affect everything. If you’re not using your hip right, it can affect your calf and toe, which can affect your glute and low back,” she said. “It’s a whole chain and when one thing is off, it can cause problems. We have to look at where the breakdown occurs and start fixing it.”

Tracey began doing physical therapy and incorporating exercises to increase her load, which included calf raises progressing through a variety of positions. She began with seated calf raises using a band for pressure.

Tracey is able to put pressure on her leg again while working out

“I did the exercises at home but when I was with Andrea, she knew when it was time to push it more. We also incorporated a lot of balance work to increase my Achilles strength. Andrea would be like, ‘Okay that’s great – now here’s a 30-pound weight to add. Do it again,’” Tracey shared. “It was hard, but I really credit her with taking the pain away.”

When it comes to her injury, Andrea doesn’t anticipate that Tracey will have any future issues. She went from barely being able to put weight on her right leg, which knocked out about 90% of what she likes to do with clients, to being pretty much back to normal.

“I would work with Andrea again in a heartbeat. I’d done everything that I felt like I should do, but I didn’t really feel good until after I worked with her,” Tracey said. “She pushed me to do things I hadn’t in a long time, and got me back to where I needed to be.”