*Month 10 and 11: Side effects of the rupture. Achilles is doing great otherwise. (Mar 9-May 8, 2017)
May 8, 2017 by agnesatr
Since today I am exactly 1 month away from 1 year anniversary of my achilles rupture and next month’s post will be the last one this year, I thought I would update on my leg’s progress so far.
ACHILLES STATUS AT MONTH 10 and 11
In the last 2 months, I must admit, I have not been thinking much about the achilles. Does it bother me sometimes? Sure. Is it still thicker? Yes. Is my total flexibility and strength back to normal? Not at all. Saying that - none of these prevent me from doing anything I was doing before this injury.
Flexibility wise, I regained enough of it to sit in a deep squat with no problem. I can feel more strain on the ruptured leg at the bottom of deep squat, but am able to hold it comfortably. My goal here is to stretch the calf/achilles a bit more to not feel anything in a deep squat position. Because of that I still stretch the leg, but I am not diligent about it at the moment. I do not get any tightness in the mornings. I just need to remember to foam roll my calf after anything more strenuous.
Strength wise - the calf muscles do not look like it, but functionally the calf is doing really well during workouts and sports. I do not feel any different in my ruptured and non-ruptured side. I still do calf raises every day. I think it became a habit now. I will do set of 40 here and there during the day when I see a staircase. I also do sets of quick calf raises when I warm up before any activity I do. I still do eccentric and single calf raises as well. As far as working the calf with more weights, I am not as regular with it at the moment. The calf looks similar to what it looked like in my last post, so I did not retake a pic this month.
MENTAL ASPECTS
I do not have fear of anything but shopping carts and crowds at the moment. This is especially true if kids are involved in any of them. In our local market they have these small shopping carts for kids and these little people just run around with the carts, not paying attention to anything. That still makes me super nervous and I try to stay away from them even if it slows down my shopping on that day. Same thing in the crowded spaces. I do not trust people walking right behind me for the fear of someone kicking me on that leg… I hope these fears disappear one day…
As far as sports though, I do not think at all about the achilles. I just make sure to warm up the calf before and foam roll it well after I am done. No mental block or fear here.
SHOWSTOPPER #1
I mentioned in my previous post that I got sciatica/hamstring issue in my non-ruptured leg. That showed up last November, when I was at the end of month 5 in my ATR recovery. It is part of compensation for the weaker leg. I am unfortunately still dealing with it. My PT and I were getting pretty frustrated with it. It is such a random pain that moves around and is so inconsistent that it is difficult to localize it and subsequently treat it. Anti-inflammatory drugs did not help, hamstring PT did not help, stretching did not help. It’s a case for Sherlock Holmes…
My doctor finally decided to send me to a clinic that, I was told, had success with hip/pelvis area pain. Apparently it is a different type of physical therapy, which is based on movement systems. They look at different systems in the body working together and all treatments are based on movement. The sessions were really unconventional and I did not realize that this clinic follows a completely different system until a PT friend of mine pointed it out to me last weekend. I just thought my new therapist is just “different” himself in his approach. I just had 3 sessions so far and am not sure if anything is working or not yet. I am giving it time. One thing I know is that the exercises I am given are nothing I have done before. They all require a lot of breathing and I know I just simply do not like any of them! I have to drag myself to do them at home… Maybe that’s why I do not like pilates either? Too much breathing perhaps?
Regardless of me liking the exercises or not, I am giving it a fair shot and am diligent about them. I just want to get rid of this pain. This sciatica pain has been mentally bothering me much more than the achilles rupture has been at any point!!!
SHOWSTOPPER #2
What are the odds of breaking your shoulder while you are recovering from the achilles rupture?! Well, I guess the odds were on my side! 3 days after my last post I was skiing and a snowboarder ran into me full speed from behind (I have a few words I call that snowboarder after I re-watched my GoPro video of the crush and how the guy took off after I said I heard a pop in my shoulder, but these are not appropriate here…
). The impact twisted me and I fell on my shoulder pretty hard. I never had any accidental bone break, so I did not know any better and I thought it was just muscles around the shoulder. I stretched it, massaged it and continued skiing. The arm was getting worse and worse though during the day, so I knew there is something messed up there.
Next day, when we got back, the xray confirmed a bone break. When the Urgent Care doc told me that the bone heals in 6 weeks I laughed. Could not help it, because after one year of achilles rupture recovery, somehow 6 weeks for a bone break seemed like nothing. Well, the doc did not mention that after these 6 weeks there are weeks of physical therapy. Lol, how naive of me not to think that it would take a while. I did not let this injury stop me though. I still did a lot of things. More than anything it was just embarrassing, even though it was not my fault… How many injuries can one have in 1 year… Thankfully, my ATR doc and PT have been great about the shoulder injury as well.
I am almost 2 months post break and the shoulder is doing really well. I still have limited range of motion and a lot of weakness in that arm, but the PT exercises are fixing it. I do stretches 3x day for it and strength PT 1x day. My physical therapist works on it in the sessions as well and that helps a lot.
So, because of both of the above “showstoppers”, as I call them, I am not so diligent about my ruptured leg calf exercises and stretches. I do them, but not to degree I would like to. Once the rest of my body is recovered, I cannot wait to get back to full body workouts without restrictions. Is that what happens after 40? Everything seems to break!
As per my doc’s suggestion, I am also doing acupuncture for all of the above. Not sure if it is working or not though. I still wake up with pain, so the results are not sticking for long. I am going to give it some more time as well.
MONTH 11 “CELEBRATIONS”
Last weekend I decided to give my body a trial run. Because of my arm I could not ski since mid-March, because of my sciatica, I could not do hill walking, hiking, or running. So last week I decided enough is enough. I walk every day on flat surface, but I started walking to my acupuncture sessions, even though the walk included hills (5 miles both ways). I went skiing on Friday for last day of skiing this season. I went hiking on Saturday and did 7 miles. I went road biking on Sunday and did 25 miles. Achilles was aching a bit towards the end of the day of skiing only. It was a huge improvement from skiing in March, when it ached after couple of hrs. Achilles was completely fine with hiking and biking though. I was not really thinking about achilles, as my shoulder was my limiting factor and fear inducer this time. The body did really well overall though. I think I needed this weekend mentally. I feel refreshed and ready to battle whatever is left to battle with these injuries.
FEET EXERCISES
Here is something new I have been doing during last 2 weeks. It might help anyone that has ankle or foot pains, stiffness, or immobility later on in recovery stage. I did the stretches in the following video daily for over a week and it made a big difference with foot aches and pains I get from doing different things. The interesting part is that my non-ruptured leg’s foot was reacting more to the exercises. It seems stiffer and was getting more sore afterwards. I now do these exercises once every 2 days. The video below has the GMB’s demonstration of the exercises and this article (https://gmb.io/feet/) has a good description and a table for reps/sets. I started with 1 set for each exercises and after couple of times increased it to 2 sets. After a week I was doing 3 sets of each and afterwards rolling my foot on a spiky ball for any muscle soreness. These take some time, so I always do it in the evening when we watch a show or a movie. I definitely recommend these.
For those earlier on, as you can see, life can get back to normal after this injury. I have unfortunate setback because of sciatica and a new injury, but achilles is good and feeling strong. I still have moments when I am amazed how body can heal on its own with a proper protocol and care. Keep going at it and it will get better with time. I keep saying it in every post and it can sound cliche, but seriously, every month is better than the previous one with regards to what you can do. Wishing everyone positive attitude and happy healing!
Glad you checked in again Agnes! Loved watching your videos. I’m just about at 3 months and every day is better. I’m looking forward to next month when my real PT starts
This month I just have gentle stretching/strengthening exercises (one PT visit - do these every day - LOL!). Next month I get to start the road back to soccer - lunges, squats, standing on tip toes, … Hopefully the sciatica pain goes away soon!
Sorry about your shoulder. That really sucks, but looks like you are getting back to things. So still no running with the sciatica? Good to hear the achilles is doing good. I am still looking forward to waking up with no tightness in the achilles. I am doing the stretches you recommended in your last post and they are helping, but I still wake up with lots of tightness. My running is coming along well. Good luck with the sciatica.
Hi Agnes, thank you for continuing to update us with your recovery from your ATR. Your progress is of particular interest to me as i too have followed a conservative protocol and am very happy with the results. i am by no means as vigilant as you are with the PT and my therapist has been pretty realistic about the kind of exercises he has given me. I am 5 months post ATR. I do wonder though if you worry about your other Achilles, ‘the good one” … going? And if you have had any advice that you could pass on that could possibly help prevent it. I am particularly worried as my brother has done both achilles… i am the same age as he did his first and he did his second 4 years later…. this at the moment is my biggest psychological battle. i can accept the time it takes to repair and get beyond functional but to think it might happen again is a real block for me.
cserpent - Glad to see the recovery is getting easier and easier. You will love the PT once you start proper exercises. It will be like regular workouts. I am sure you will be back to soccer in no time with some PT dedication to re-growing that calf!
You do need to let biology do its work though and let the achilles heal properly before you are back to full dynamic movements. If I may ask, how come one PT visit at this point? Do you mean one per week?
Sean - nope, no running at this point. I will not give it another try until my hamstring/hip pain disappears. Glad the stretches are helping you and that your running is going well! The tightness will disappear with time. Just be patient! Try doing some hill walking or hiking, that’s a good way to get some stretch more naturally too.
Smillea - the fear of rupturing the other one is something I have as well and I am sure it is a concern for many… I asked my doctor about it and he said that it is not that common for people to rupture both. I suspect that’s based on percentages of overall patients. Now, I also saw few people rupturing both few years apart and that worries me. I really hope there was better scientific explanation why we rupture. If genes play role, can we do something about it? Like for your brother and you, is it just a coincidence, or something genetic…
From my research over the last year, here is what I gathered and am applying as prevention:
- My calves are pretty flexible, but for people with tight calves, regular stretching will help to avoid tightness during activities. I have been stretching both legs and continue doing it now as well. I stretch both: gastroc and soleus muscles to make sure there is no unnecessary tightness that puts pressure on achilles
- I use foam roller after strenuous activities to make sure I get all the knots out and that the calves muscles do not pull on achilles
- I have been working on my uninjured leg at the same time as I was on my injured leg. I have been especially making sure to do eccentric calf raises for both legs since there are studies out there that say these help with achilles health. I still do double calf raises and eccentric calf raises for both legs daily.
- I am now paying better attention to hydration. When I ruptured, I think I might have been dehydrated based on the activities I did that day and analyzing it later. Dehydration can cause muscles cramping or tightness.
- I am now paying better attention to even smaller aches in the body. I have always been rather careless in that regard. If some muscles hurt a bit here or there, I never paid much attention to it. I guess for all of us that ruptured once, paying extra attention to unusual sensations below knees might be helpful.
- Make sure your glutes and hips are strong and hamstrings not tight. My PT mentioned a study (and I believe I also read it at some point) that linked glutes/hips strength to achilles health. Ball bridges became my good friend in my workout routines.
- Warm up these calves before anything strenuous. Amongst other warm ups for whole legs, I do like pump some double calf raises on a stair as a warm up for activities.
That’s all I’ve got. I do not think that there is one concrete answer though, as our bodies are so different and the ruptures are probably results of many different things for each and everyone of us…. If anyone has any other tips, it would be nice to hear it too!
Glad you are healing well with non op and are happy with the results!
Hi Agnes! Just one PT visit total so far and that was 2 weeks ago - LOL! They gave me exercises to do every day and I don’t go back until 6/3. It’s based on the doctors instructions and, I suspect, on my desire to get better (so they’re confident I’ll do my assigned exercises rigorously). I was rigorous about exercising on my own and doing the things the doc said before I started PT and even bugged the doc to see what additional exercises I could do on my own. Since I’m going up/down stairs with no issues now (12 weeks after surgery) I’m doing pretty well compared to others I think. My doc may just be extra cautious to make sure the achilles reattachment to the bone is solid before really stressing it. He knows I’m chomping at the bit to get back into soccer. I had Haglunds/bone spur surgery so they had to cut the achilles, butterfly it open to get to the bone so they could grind it off, then put things back together again. I had a BIG bone growth on my heel so it took lots of grinding - LOL! When I got a hairline fracture of my knee cap many years ago the doc told me it takes 12 weeks for bone to heal completely. I’ll be at 14 weeks when I go to PT next so everything should be healed and reattached nicely by then.
cserpent - oh I see, that’s quite different than having a straight forward rupture! Yes, that’s what I was told about the bone as well with my broken humerus - 3 months for complete healing and reduction of risk of re-break on impact (I was a bit naughty and went skiing at 2 months mark after break). Was told that for 6 weeks no active ROM not to rip the bone off with the muscles that attach to it…
You can practice your patience at the moment. Something most of us, including myself, are not too good at! 
I guess for you the bone is involved as well as achilles and stitches as well and it makes sense about your doc’s stance on PT, I suppose. Everyone’s case is so different… With your dedication to PT I have a feeling that once you are cleared for it, you will do just fine with coming back to your old form and soccer!
Hey Agnes sorry to hear about your hamstring and shoulder - nothing to do with age though I suspect. I got back to netball at 8.5 months but hit some similar bad luck with an ankle sprain in my second game. Completely unrelated - I just ended up in a tangle of legs. I’ve had two weeks off now though aND running freely again so back on court next week. Certainly appreciate the challenges of rehabbing two injuries at once. Important to continue the achilles work as much as possible. Best wishes.
Oh man, sorry about your sprain. At least your ankle is doing better already. Crazy luck with these sports sometimes. How was your first netball mentally? How is your ruptured calf strength now?
An yep rehabbing multiple injuries at the same time is something else for sure! My brain hurts from remembering what all I did today and what else is left…
As far as the age - I am not really serious about it. I am just making fun of the situation since it is quite coincidental to suddenly break so many things after turning the milestone 40.
Good luck at your game next week and watch out for all these legs this time.
Looks like your recovery is at its tail end as well!
I had no issues going back to netball mentally. After the first whistle I forgot about it. I took my time getting back into drills at training etc though. Calf is still noticeably weaker on calf raises but it doesn’t affect my running speed or most jumping. I do struggle a little jumping backwards to the left though (my injured side). I am hoping this will come as the season progresses! Fingers crossed my return take 2 is for the rest of the season!
Awesome! Good luck with your second go and with the rest of the season!
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