Stall rest

When the vet comes out to look at your horse, the words you never want to hear in the same sentence are "tendon" and "stall rest."  A tendon injury usually means an expensive lay-up, a confined, bored horse that has to be hand-walked daily, and of course no riding or fun stuff for either of you. Horses are sensitive but not very smart about some things-- they will gallop and roll when they should be resting their injured legs. I guess they're not all that different from stubborn people.

Well, I stayed in our stall this weekend, because my annoying ankle sprain is in the 4th week now.  John loaned me his cane (saved from when he broke his knee falling off the fig tree) and gave me complimentary lessons on how to use it.  I usually dash around all day without a thought, so there's nothing like a cane to make a person feel they added 30 years to their age.  I also realized I have a strong tendency to whine and feel sorry for myself, a trait I should modify if I intend to age with grace.

The thing we shouldn't do (but all do anyway) is "look up" our symptoms or diagnosis on the Internet.  After wallowing around a bit in cyberspace we start to worry and tend to think the worse. It's easy to find plenty of "evidence" that we have a serious aliment rather than a minor problem. This type of over-diagnosis, a kind of Internet hypochondria, has been given its own name: cyberchondria.

I have a high ankle sprain, which is apparently worse than a regular ankle sprain, which is bad enough.  My type is deceptive because it doesn't "look that bad"-- there's no swelling and most people don't even feel pain until the day after the injury.  Then they stomp around for a couple of weeks until they realize it isn't getting any better.  If they're smart, they limp off to a foot doctor who gives them good advice.  Like, "it will get better on it's own."  The only question no one can answer is when.  But for what it's worth, the old Internet says an athlete with a high ankle sprain needs about 6 weeks to get back in the game, and another 6 months to recover completely.  To be honest, I don't care if I EVER do the eagle pose again.