Seeking and Giving Professional Help

Here’s a true story that might get you thinking….

Sometimes we don’t know that we need expert help and other times we know we need help but don’t know who to ask!

This happened to me this week…  Yes, There’s a lesson in this.

As you may know I’m in training for a rather long walk.  In fact a walk of over 800 kilometres.  But that’s another story.

Anyway, as I started to increase my training frequency and intensity I was getting injured.  My Achilles tendons were taking a hammering and starting to get really sore.  A common injury it seems with long distance walkers.

Never having suffered this type of injury before I didn’t know what sort of expert advice to seek, so I started with my GP (Doctor).

Having explained the symptoms to Stella, she asked me to put my leg up on a chair and she ‘twanged’ by Achilles tendon!  After she peeled me off the ceiling, she said ‘Yes. you’ve got tendinitis‘.   Stella suggested I see a podiatrist and get an Ultrasound.

So on advice from a friend I sought out a Podiatrist who was used to dealing with runners and walkers.  Andrew the podiatrist was actually a member of the local running club.  The running club gave me his details.

Andrew took a look and made me do a few tests and he confirmed I had Tendinitis.  He gave me some heel supports, some compression bandages and exercises to undertake. He also suggested I have an Ultrasound just to test the severity of the injury.

So now I went off to get the Ultrasound.  Sure enough these confirmed quite severe swelling of the tendons over 4-5 centimetres.  So I took these results back to Stella.

As I did not have a lot of time for treatment, due to my pending walk and the need to keep training, she suggested Cortisone injections to reduce the swelling.  This needs to be done under Ultrasound guidance and not all imaging centres carry out such treatment.  Bur Stella rang around and found one for me.

So off I went to get the Ultrasound guided injections.  A bit painful, but the results were very quick.  Reduced pain and increased mobility.

All of these experts had also recommended a course of Physiotherapy just to condition the Achilles so as to avoid further injury.  Enter Alex the Physiotherapist…

All of this took place over the space of about one week, and I’m now back into training with a much better understanding of this type of injury and how to avoid it in the future.

 

OK, so what was the point of this story.  Or points?

1. 1. 1. I was faced with a challenge I had never come across before, and sought professional help.
      2. With professional help, the issue was resolved quickly and professionally with a solution I was not even aware of.
      3. In selecting who to turn to, because I had never needed this type of help before, I asked people who’s opinion I valued and trusted.  My GP.
      4. I followed the advice of each of the experts and as a result, got the outcome I needed.
      5. Had I not sought help, my walking plans would probably have been over…at least for this year.

So if you are looking around for help in  Supply Chain and Logistics, even if you are not sure what the problem might be, who would your friends and colleagues recommend talking to?  Start there….

 

Best Regards,
Rob O’Byrne
Email: robyrne@logisticsbureau.com
Phone: +61 417 417 307

 

 

P.S. I’ll let you know if the Achilles tendons held up!