It has been one year since my original ATR while jumping around BAREFOOT in the gym.

First I got conservative treatment, however after the re-rupture not quite 8 months ago I opted for surgery.

The good news is that the past month I became comfortable on my feet, I do not worry about tripping or slipping anymore. I can jump, jog a bit, not too well, but  I have never been a runner. I am able to walk fast and swim as well as before. I am attending and enjoying my regular (low impact)  fitness classes at the Y. I reached my goal of resuming my 7 km week-end walks.

The disappointment is that I still can not forget about my injury.

I lost the original (very good) flexibility of my foot in the dorsiflexion. That makes squatting down, leaning forward a bit awkward. I get cracking  in my forefoot when doing heel lifts or strong movements, which I never did before the surgery. I still get stiff if I sit for a while and have to stretch a little or I limp the first few steps.

What bothers me most is the pain in the front of my foot - not in the heel! -  if I walk too much. (more than 2 hours) So while the surgery fixed up a lot of issues, it messed up some other parts a bit.

The nearly 6 months total of immobilization weakened the calf significantly. Though I can do heel lifts  my injured calf is still 3 cms skinnier than the other one. I try to work on that but it is hard to keep motivated after so many months.

It is kind of annoying that with all this time spent immobilized I got  in the habit of using mostly my good leg, putting more weight on it  sparing the injured one when I have to get up from the floor etc.  And with all this merciful treatment my injured calf got lazy and does not want to engage. Sometimes I feel like I have to do a few  heel lifts to wake it up.

I find certain issues are taken care of if we just give our body some time. I see how eager everybody is to get back to normal as soon as possible, and it gets quite frustrating for most. Unfortunately it seems this injury does take a year of recovery. I am still optimistic that by July, that will be the anniversary of my surgery, my calf will be stronger.

So I wish you all lots of patience and determination for your recovery.