The New York Mets have been quite the mess this year, and another chapter to the storyline was added over the weekend when slugger Yoenis Cespedes announced that he was dealing with calcification in both of his heels. The fact that he’s dealing with another injury isn’t surprising, but it was the fact that the Mets didn’t seem to know anything about the injury that made headlines.
Cespedes returned to the lineup on Friday after a two-month stint on the disabled with with a strained right hip flexor. He appeared to be back to his normal self, hitting a home run in the third inning, but you could tell he was in some discomfort later in the game. Cespedes apparently knew exactly what was wrong, later telling reporters about his double heel calcification, an injury that not only requires surgery, but 8-10 months of rehab.
Today, the team announced that Cespedes will visit a foot specialist and Dr. David Altchek later this week before determining a treatment course.
Dr. Silverman Comments
Cespedes is dealing with a condition known as insertional Achilles tendinopathy, and one of the main symptoms is chronic heel pain, which Cesepedes is dealing with after describing to reporters that his heels felt “on fire” during the game. The cause of insertional Achilles tendinopathy is unknown, but medical experts believe the condition could be caused by too tight of a heel cord (tight nearby muscles) or due to apoptosis (cell death in the region).
Unfortunately, simply removing the spurs or the heel calcification isn’t that straightforward of an approach. It may help to provide some relief, but in more than 50 percent of cases, the Achilles tendon will also have been damaged.
Because of this, surgery to address the calcification is unlikely to relieve all of his pain. Pain does help to act as a natural guard against overexertion, and in turn, it’s unlikely that Cespedes will rupture the tendon, but he likely won’t be back to pain-free baseball anytime soon. Hopefully the tendon damage in both feet is minimal, and surgery takes place sooner rather than later so that he can rejoin the team early next season.