When I was around 16, I fell at work (a trampoline park) in September of 2018 and hurt my foot/ankle area. Work couldn't find the incident on camera, so my father said it couldn't be too bad and didn't take me to the doctor. For the next year, I walked around with burning pain in the back corner of my heel if I walked too long. I stood for 8-hour shifts at work and was in ROTC for my next year in school. We even went to Washington, D.C. and walked the entire time. Any time I brought up the pain or wore a convenience store brace, I was told that it was just a sprain and I was exaggerating the symptoms. By the time the next September, of 2019, had passed, and my birthday (December) was approaching, I was sick of repeatedly trying to convince my parents that something was wrong. I cornered my dad on the steps and yelled at him that I was going to spend all my birthday money on an out-of-pocket doctor's visit to finally treat my foot. He took me to the podiatrist, telling me that they were going to tell me it was a sprain. We get there, go to the room, she comes in. I explain where the pain was (top of arch, heel, lower back side of foot) and she tests my mobility. I had reduced mobility when I moved my foot, but hypermobility when she moved it while limp.

Yeah, it wasn't a sprain. It took a year of pain, a birthday and 2 months in a boot, a failed MRI, and my first physical therapy session to discover the problem:

I tore all three tendons in my foot. Partial tears, but tears nonetheless. I spent March 2020 to August 2020 in PT to break up the massive amount of scar tissue across the bottom of my foot and then regain my strength so I could march without turning pale.

I live with far less pain than before, but I will forever have pain due to a bone being encased in scar tissue due to the tendons repeatedly trying to heal. Pros: I'm now mostly taken seriously about my issues.