Redundant body parts

I had a bit of a human anatomy lesson yesterday, which is also provides for a great trivia question...how many parts of our body can you name which are redundant? An obvious one is the appendix, that is usually taken out when it causes problems...which happened to me in 2000 when mine burst/ruptured and needed emergency surgery to scrape the remnants out. Personal experience is always a great way of learning trivia!!!

Well there is at least one other redundant body part, about which I now also have personal experience. It is the Plantaris tendon and associated muscle, which is in your lower leg and stretches from just below the knee to the heel. The Plantaris muscle is small and thin. In fact it is so small that it is missing in 7-15% of the population. It is known as a vestigal muscle, which suggests that we have somehow evolved and that we don't really need the muscle (and tendon) anymore. Some friends have already told me that since I still have the tendon it means I simply haven't evolved...but I prefer to think of myself as being a more complete person!!

Apparently the tendon is often used by surgeons as a donor site for tendon repairs elsewhere in the body. There is no apparent loss of function by surgically removing the tendon, and similarly if it ruptures...apart from the associated pain when that occurs.

The reason I know this is that my goddam Plantaris tendon flared up 10 days ago in a race that I was a DNF from...something I haven't done in decades. It came out of the blue, feeling fine during the warm-up, and only starting to hurt about 2-3km before getting worse until I pulled out at 5km. Perhaps a contributor was having a deep massage the day before, in fact Ms A asked if that was normal practice, which I dismissed to an extent, having no problems previously. Anyway, lesson learnt - no massage the day before racing anymore...

Initially I wondered if it was another calf pull/strain/tear, but was soon apparent this injury was "different" and that the tendon was the actual problem...notwithstanding that I always have tight calves!!! The strange thing was why it happened since the Plantaris is such a minor / insignificant part of running. Nonetheless, it was inflamed and after a week and  two physio visits I checked in to see my excellent doctor yesterday morning, with an ultrasound and injection in the afternoon...I do like it when things happen quickly!!!

It was interesting talking to the sonographer / doctor about the circumstances of injury, and hearing about the redundancy of the tendon/muscle. Apparently a Collingwood footballer ruptured his recently and was back playing 2 weeks later once the pain had settled...he simple didn't need it. Some internet research says it is commonly known as "tennis calf" since it is often sudden movements like in tennis that rupture it, again with no on-going problems. So it seems I might have been better off actually rupturing mine rather than stopping short and resting it...sigh...

Anyway, we've taken some positive action and I'll be back running next week...with tendon still in tact!!! At least I'll be better prepared for trivia questions.