It’s a real drag to have to wait in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, even our NYC podiatry office, despite the bright and cheery demeanor of my most excellent staff, free coffee, Wi-Fi, and cable TV. However, as with any cloud, this one too has a silver lining, and that is the opportunity to watch Live! with Kelly and Michael. And those who are as glued to the tube as I am know that - the horror! - Kelly and Mark are both in boots at this very moment, she due to a broken foot, whatever that is, and he due to a calf muscle tear. Well, the silver lining of this cloud is two injuries means two blog posts.
It’s slightly comforting, in a mean schadenfreude type of way, to know that even very handsome celebrity couples have an occasional boo-boo. @MarkConsuelos, husband of @KellyRipa has sustained a “small calf tear.” The good news is this is a self-limiting injury that will likely heal on its own with immobilization and time. The calf, at least the non-bovine kind, is the muscle on the back of the leg that forms the Achilles tendon. Small tears are relatively common, and often the result of exercise, sports, or just normal usage and activity. As with any other muscle, there is not much to do in terms of active treatment. Muscles are meaty structures with a great blood supply and the body does a great job of healing most tears, as long as the bulk of the muscle belly remains intact, in contrast to tendons, which don’t heal as well due to their tough fibrous structure and relatively poor blood supply.
A CAM or fracture boot like the kind currently sported by the oh-so-chic and stylish Kelly and Mark is a great tool for keeping an injured foot or leg immobilized while allowing for almost full activity. 3-6 weeks in the boot and the tear should be almost fully healed, and although the muscles atrophy at a rate of 3% per day of inactivity, the muscles will heal fully with resumption of weight bearing and possibly physical therapy.
So if you’re a celebrity couple and you’re both injured on the same leg at the same time, you know where to go. But please do me a favor, don’t invite me over the house, think it’s bad luck over there or something…
See you in the office.
Ernest Isaacson
