Action Jackson’s Achilles Blog

Hi all I’m only at week 9 and have just got out of my trusty boot so am feeling very scared to walk faster than a striking slug.
I agree with pjackson about having to protect yourself from yourself as my cat was being sick and I almost jumped to her aid but putting my foot down I realised I couldn’t do anything to help her lol. I also have now learned to leave the ringing phone. It is really hard though!!
Did any of you experience pain across the top of your foot when you came out of the boot? I didn’t the first time by its quite painful this time

I am right there with you! Start week 10 tomorrow, no surgery. I was happy and surprised how well I am walking in two shoes this week. Still, I find myself disheartened about how far I have to go! Seven more weeks of PT, extreme cautious when walking out of the house, great difficulty walking down stairs, etc… I have to force myself to remember how far I have come, and read success stories on the blog. I feel like the world has passed me by- I have missed most of the summer and now most of the fall! I was super paranoid about lengthening, and now rerupturing! I have chosen to wear shoes out of the house (many people here wear the boot out of the house longer), but it is a risk. PT says I’m ready, but it is still scary. I take a cane out of the house. We’ll get there, right?!?

I am 17 weeks post op and 5 weeks out of my boot. It’s liberating but scary! I felt I turned a corner around 15 weeks. I felt like the tendon was a little less stiff and I tried to encourage myself to walk heel to toe before it became tired. I was so slow I almost went backwards! My PT has really helped and whilst I still walk with s bit of a limp I feel much more confident. I am still very careful about where I step and going down stairs is slow but I can feel the gain every day. It’s a slow process but I feel like I am starting to get there, it’s an incremental recovery and I have tried to focus on what the next step would be rather than look too far ahead, particularly at the start. I just keep looking at my alpine hiking photos and I am determined to get back there in the future. Good luck guys, full recovery to us all.

Well said my friend. I am in the same position. Glad to be out of boot but full recovery will be quite some time. I am in therapy and doing well but you are right, not ready to pick up the pace. After a trip to the grocery store my foot is tired. Also trying to get out of the the limp too. Best of luck to you.

I’m right with you… I hope to never, ever need to wear that boot again! Congrats, all the best with the rehab!

Congratulations! I am closing in on two shoes but had a scare which ended up being scar tissue breaking away. I will begin to get out of the boot again. Best of luck to and yes I thank the Lord for my recovery as well.

Congrats on your progress. It is such a good feeling. It looks like we are both 8 weeks post-op. Definitely interested in your recovery and blog. Check mines out when you have a chance.

Hey Action, I really admire your positive attitude, that’s been the hardest for me during my second round of recovery. Keep it up, you are doing great an you will be walking on your feet really soon

It’s the little things that count. Keep up the good recovery!

Oh no this is not a photo of my leg, I just used this to illustrate the location of the achilles tendon. Thanks for commenting and you are correct, this does look like a partial tear

Sorry to hear your doc is holding you back, but he has your long-term health in mind (mine waited until week 8, too). With two more weeks of healing and resuming PT, your progress will really take off.

It is not uncommon to feel fine while doing a new movement only to find pain/swelling/or just general discomfort later. It is also common to hear the cliche’ “listen to your body”. I found that the body is not always a good key in discerning when to stop.

The key is incremental rehabilitation and a good therapist will understand this. What that means is trying a new movement a few times and no more even if you feel like you can do more and then waiting a few days to see how the body responds. If it responds well you can do the original set/reps and INCREMENTALLY add more over time. Always give the body time before adding sets and reps. The PT will know the exercises to do and the reps/sets to start with.

Don’t be surprised if you have more swelling/discomfort than you have had now that you’ve started PT. For example I had minimal swelling/discomfort post op until week 8 when I started standing up movements in PT. I hardly had to ice. Weeks 8 - 16 as I progressed in PT I was often sore and icing after each session was common practice. I iced each day 2 to 3 times up until month 7. Though we are all unique in our healing it is

Wow…I started PT at 12 weeks and went about 3 times and quit. To me it felt like they were just showing me what I had already been doing and learning from others on youtube and here. I am now at 24 weeks and I feel great. Thank you Jesus! I followed the functional non op protocol I found on this site and also Brady Browne’s non op rehab on youtube. Those 2 sources were my bread and butter. OS didn’t do much for me and PT really didn’t do much for me personally. You’re right, this is a long journey so waiting a couple weeks here and there are very minute in the long run.

God Bless,
In times like these we get a chance to focus on life up close (FAMILY).
Babies grow up while we are running! You may find some lost things around the house!
I too am recovering from hip replacement and must stay near home four to six weeks. God help me as well focus and find some of those lost things around the house!
God bless us with your healing so we can run the race you set before us!
In Jesus name,
Amen

When I first went into the boot, the OS’s assistant told me to get my heel to touch the bottom of the boot with no wedges and I said I couldn’t do it. They never gave me wedges so I went to a shoe store and bought 4 gel heel pads and they worked for me. I was able to angle my foot to where there was no stress on the tendon and then I was able to remove them at my own pace by listening to my body.

I agree with “oscillot”. From your photo, I can see that I was originally given the exact same boot. After only a few hours, I knew I would not be able to tolerate it, and immediately called the Vacocast people who shipped my the Pro Achilles. It came the next day and I have had it on ever since with few problems. The Even-Up was absolutely necessary for the non-injured foot, as I was having knee and hip pain without it. I am now approaching 12 weeks after surgery, and the doctor said I can now move from the boot to shoes. Too bad you got a crappy nurse.

AJ, I am majorly concerned if you are wearing the boot at neutral as pictured. The typical post-op degree is 30 degs to start, gradually going to neutral over ~1-2 months. Better to heal with your tendon too short than too long.

I started with that same boot. After the second sleepless night, got the much more comfortable Vaco cast and it was the best $300 I’ve ever spent. You can swim in it, and it’s much easier to keep clean because of the removable liners.

That night splint isn’t great, either. The point is to keep your toes down, not up.

AJ - what exactly “hurt” about getting in to the boot? Did you go from a plantarflexion splint right to the boot, like I did? I just put my heel into the boot and strapped it on - no muss, no fuss, no pain. I was relieved to get my foot out of that radical toes down position. I guess this just points out, as others have, the individual differences in our experiences. Hope you are used to the boot by now. Good luck.

Action, welcome to the club. I never had any problem with the initial transition to the boot but I had other problems that would probably make your “nightmare” seem like dreaming about a beautiful girl. The problem with Achilles tendon recovery is that it is multi staged and within these stages are almost countless levels of healing. If you have 10 Achilles patients you will have 11 different recoveries. Everyone will have difficulties of varying natures. The common thread will be that it seems to take forever to heal. I am somewhere between 14 and 15 weeks. It is getting better but it seems to be like two steps forward and one step back. We all say that we won’t rush it or be in a hurry. I said the same thing but I lied. I want to get back to normal but the nature of this injury is that it tempts you to do things that may have been normal once but not in the best of our interest now. Other people will have different stories about their recoveries some good and some bad all different. Your recovery will be uniquely your own.

Those who have hinged boots are fortunate to be able to put a bit more angle on the boot and less tension on the tendon. A bit of a stretch maybe to get your heel all the way down. I do hope you have some heel wedges in that thing as it could be a bit soon to go all the way to neutral and understand why that would hurt. Many here including myself have felt some discomfort when changing the angle of the foot but not pain this bad. Those who have experienced real pain have had their foot forced too far. It should be settled in a day or so but if not see or speak to your doc.

Ouch! It didn’t hurt that much when I get on mine the first time around, not even the second I guess. Did you get a heel lift with the boot? Just curious. Keep up the healing!

Well said. I kind of just laughed and accepted my injury right off the bat and embraced the challenge as well. I’ve worked 5 days as a contractor, coached high school basketball, and DJ’ed 3 nights a week for the past 9 years… Having some time to just relax and enjoy my family and just relax has been a Godsend. Now if I were walking a little, that would be ideal, but hey, we gotta embrace the challenge at hand and thrive!

Patrick - I probably should have answered direct to statement about the non surgical option being good for those who are not active or cannot afford surgery. That is very much old school thinking and relates to those people still being treated in a cast for 12 weeks NWB and then sometimes a boot. The key to a non surgical treatment is early weight bearing and movement. Surgical patients seem to produce similar results with or without this. There are also many good reasons to avoid surgery particularly when your result can be identical and re-rupture rate similar. Strength and a return to previous activities also the same. I have been around these pages long enough to see the fantastic results from non surgical repairs treated using modern protocols. I have also seen wounds not healing for months, infections, blot clots, healing short, scars rubbing on shoes, huge ugly scars and significant pain. When the tendon ends approximate with plantar flexion what does surgery do that the body doesn’t naturally do with or without surgery? It is of course the collagen that forms and then remodels that provides the strength to the tendo

Inspirational and practical!

That’s great stuff and yes, when you pray about something and get that peace about it, you know you are on your way! Thanks for sharing

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michael67, thanks for your comments and Wow!!! 2 ATR’s… this is one more than I hope to ever have however I will keep you updated and please send any encouraging words and tips along the way.
Grateful

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Stuart, thanks for sharing your comment, information and personal experience however re: the non surgical route is not relevant, I beg to differ. For the simple fact that after reading updated material, talking to a couple of doctors as well as making the acquaintances of several people here with this blog and other forums that have personally went through or know someone that went the nonsurgical route, those two reasons were on point. Anyway, your reasoning as to having the surgery was definitely in line with my personal reasoning. Thanks again,

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thanks for your comments and these are just a few books that I need to complete or re-read. Yes, there is always a silver lining in every situation and let’s all allow this injury to make us better.
Godspeed,

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Yessir Eyceman, that’s It!!!!!

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Yipee! I’m excited that there is someone else out there who is taking our ATR, and making it positive. I too, felt that someone was telling me to step back and reflect. I like how you state, “get better in other areas of my life.” That’s my plan too. Let’s do this!!

Looking through your book suggestions now

Patrick - the research you read re non-surgical approach is very old and not relevant. Some people are however still treated this way and for them the end results may not be as good as if they had surgery. There is plenty on this site about the newer methods of non-op rehab which you should have time to read. I had a surgical repair because I was given the same out of date information. With what I have learned here I would not do it again. I do however respect the decisions of every individual. It is a matter of choice but it is better if we have all the facts before we make it. There is a good saying I think I heard here first -’There is no condition known to man that cannot be made worse by surgery’ I have been struggling over the last month with a decision to have surgery to fix a problem in my heart. I can live with it but life is limited. At worse I could die on the table or suffer a number of other complications but the risks are about 5% worldwide. I am going ahead with it as this is not the lifestyle I want to live out my days and I hope things will go well. I have researched everything and put my trust in the

Psalm 46:10

Action, thank you for sharing. I am one of the few that underwent both options. This March I had Achilles repair surgery on my left side and about 20 years ago I ruptured the Achilles on my right and went into a cast for 8 weeks without surgery. My right side is permanently weaker. It bothered me only once when I hit the brakes on my car hard and felt like it was about to pop again. Since then it hasn’t bothered me except it dosen’t feel real strong but it hasn’t held me back. Hindsight is 20/20 but there are no absolute gurantees when it comes to major surgical procedures. Good luck in your recovery and keep us posted on your progress.

Good afternoon,

I went the non op route and currently at 20 weeks post injury. My recovery has been relatively smooth to this point and I am happy with my decision to give it a try without surgery. I prayed about it and was at peace with my decision and that’s how I know I made the correct choice. I can jog and if I wanted to, I am sure I could go shoot hoops right now, but I wont be doing that I just feel extremely blessed to be where I am at on my road to recovery. I am an active 41 year old who works out 4 times a week and I feel I will be back to where I was pre-injury except I will be more aware of what I can and cant do anymore. Good luck on your road and there are some very knowledgeable people on this site who are very helpful.

If the picture is truly accurate of the function of you right foot
- I can see your gastroc flexing
- you can still tip toe with FWB

Looks like a partial tear. If this is true consider yourself very lucky.
See what the orthopod recommends.

I use a night splint (starting in week 5) but I took out the toe wedge, lengthened the side straps, and put two heel wedges in. In the end it was slightly more plantar flexed than the boot and I slept much better. Now that I am down to 0 degrees in the boot and starting 2 shoes I have one heel wedge. I agree they come out of the package way too dorsiflexed for anyone until they are at 0 degrees or beyond in the boot.

Many who have posted in this blog have found that they can do without the boot at bedtime from about the 4 weeks mark. For piece of mind I put a cushion between me my partner. Just keep your boot close by in case you need to leave the bedroom during the night.

Very careful with those plantar fascitis night splints, they are not designed to treat post-ATR patients and they can have a very detrimental effect by lengthening and extending the AT during post-operative recovery. They actually dorsiflex the foot, when the recovery position is plantarflexion.