Dan Aquilante

I never really thought about my feet until I injured my Achilles tendon playing paddle ball. Stupid as it sounds, I never gave my feet their due until I hurt myself. After the injury my dogs hounded me as if they were avenging years of being ignored.

The game where I hurt my foot took place in September 2016. I sizzled, five games and I won all but the last. By then my foot was bothering me a little and then a lot. The next morning I was moving around the house as if I was auditioning for the "Walking Dead."

Foolishly I didn't seek any medical help. My heel was red, swollen, and to slip on a sneaker was a torture. Yeah, I should have headed for help right then, but life is busy, and I though it would feel better if I soaked it in hot water and kept off the paddle ball courts for a while. It didn't heal, and six months down the line I had learned to live with a pain so bad that I was actually willing to go out in public wearing Crocs -- the only footwear that didn't hurt my heel.

Then to the rescue came HSS's Dr. Rock Positano, who identified the problem and started me on a program that required me to ice the injury twice a day, wear a compression sock on my ankle and get a weekly in-office, non-surgical treatment called shockwave therapy. He warned me it was going to be a slow fix, but I was still discouraged because it seemed like nothing was happening. After about three months I noticed I was walking without a limp even though I still felt some pain. And now six months since my first visit to the HSS Joe DiMaggio Sports Foot & Ankle Center there are entire days I blissfully get to forget about my feet again.