andreea’s AchillesBlog

It’s been another week and another PT appointment (number 3)…and it sounds like it was my last. My PT gave me more exercises to do (I can now balance for 1 min) and signed me up for the “Ankle Strength Group” which is a group that meets twice a week in the local physio gym and does one hour of strengthening exercises under the watchful eyes of the PTs. I still walk with a little limp but my gait is slowly improving and will get back to normal once I can roll nicely over my bad foot.

I did about 10 slow (slight) heel raises under the PT’s observation and am supposed to do 2 lots of 8 each day, twice a day. I also still continue with stretching my tendon, and practice rolling over the foot nicely - controlled poised walking - for at least 2min a day. Finally, she showed my boyfriend how to massage my scar (that was actually almost soothing).

Feeling positive, even though still about 2 months away from my first run apparently. Boo! Come on clock and hurry up I need some endorphins!

I have been under the guidance of my PT for one week now. My progress is apparently excellent and she is pleased that I am getting more and more comfortable walking around without crutches in my shiny new 2-shoes (see below, these shoes are great because their adjustable straps allow swelling). She only took my boot away last week for the first time in 8.5 weeks, so lots has happened in the last 7 days. It only took me 2 days or so to completely ditch the crutches. I have a funny limp as I walk, but apparently developing normal gait is going to take some time yet. My ROM is fine, though still a few degrees off the normal range. Calf is weak, as expected. So more playing with elastic bands for me, and more balancing practice too (I could almost do 15 seconds on the bad leg).

One thing she got me to do is to balance on a wobble board. I don’t know if others have experienced this but it looked super dangerous and difficult to me and I was scared stiff of it. The point of this board was to see where I place most of my weight, and as expected, I tend to put it all on the back heel. Apparently, I am supposed to try to consciously shift it more towards the front of the foot, so it is more evenly spread over the leg. I don’t like this wobble thing and hope to never see it again. Anyone else met the scary wobble board?

Apart from balancing and fun with elastic bands, she is also getting me to try and very very gently lift the heel of my legs (including the bad one!) off the ground, while using my fingers to lean on something. This feels dangerous and early and I am too scared to do it. Has anyone else been told anything to do this quite this quickly in their treatment? She said it will gradually help to stretch and strengthen the tendon.

Things are good otherwise, not much swelling to report and I managed to walk 35 min (at my snail pace) without any break stops into town the other day, so I am happy enough with that. No stationary cycle for me yet (my PT does not seem to think it is quite the messiah that other PTs appear to believe it is, so she is not reccomending it. I will apparently join some gym circuit group at some point in the next few weeks though, so maybe then!?! not sure yet).

Happy healing everyone!

The physio appointment went very well and she seems friendly and willing to listen to my goals. Thanks to advice from others here, I made sure to mention that my final goal is to be able to run, play tennis again and generally return to my sport. My physio rehab will thus take 3 months which seems thorough and helpful & which will take me to my goal (or thereabouts).

The boot was ditched for good as the physio thinks wearing it will teach me bad walking habits. I am not strong enough to do any stationary cycling or swimming just yet, but the foot’s range of movement is excellent (almost as good as the good foot, only a few degrees off). However in a few weeks I will join the circuit gym group which will prob have me doing proper exercises.

For now I have an elastic band with which to do strengthening calf exercises (see the exercise blogs for details, very similar stuff), I am told to practice good gait walking and balancing on one leg. I do these twice a day. The aim is to be able to balance on the bad leg for 1-2 minutes and of course to get the muscles which went on holiday for the summer (gluttes, thigh & calf) to engage in walking properly again. Yoga is not yet on the cards, though in principle I can try if I feel like it and see how it goes, stopping when the pain gets too much. To be honest, I have enough on plate with practicing walking for now and I am not hurry to pull a “Forest Gump” anytime soon.

Walking in shoes is easier than barefoot (as others found too). And yes, Bigfoot did manage to get into shoes eventually, pushing through the tingles and pain and using a tubular band to keep the swelling under control. Only downside is tubular bands don’t come in pink. Also, despite my impressive array of shoes which I have thoughtfully brought along, the physio said I should wear “whatever is comfortable”. I gather a bit of heal is helpful, but anything goes pretty much (so long as it fits well and is relatively stable).

Walking (see pict) is not easy as the stiff leg is not happy with the situation. Those crutches are sure going to go for good soon too, I can already take steps without them and have worked out how to furniture-walk all the way to the kitchen (furniture-walk is a technical term for leaning on any piece of furniture available in the hope of not falling over). So I just walk very very slowly (I used to be a notoriously fast walker and hated slow people, arrrh the irony!). Also, various shades of purple are all normal at this stage and to be expected. RICE principle can help with this.

As one of my friends put it, one small step for mankind, one big step for Andreea (thanks Annik!)

Happy healing everyone, I am off to paint my nails!

P.S. A word of caution from my phyiso I’d like to share: beware the evilish stairs! Apparently they are the no.1 cause of re-ruptures as pushing off too fast on them is a sure recipe for disaster (particularly as you get stronger and “forget” that your poor achilles is only “newly reborn”).

Is this normal? Has it always been purple while walking in the boot and I wasn’t able to see it or am I doing something different now because I am walking barefoot and without the support of the boot (it’s the first day too and I am not putting full weight on it yet as I am still using the crutches)?

Have others noticed this happening?

My 8 1/2 week app at the doctor this morning concluded the following:

* I am all healed, scar is fine, calf test works fine, all good
* my confidence is rock bottom

So when the doctor said ok take the shoe and boot off and walk to me in your bare feet, I was like “Really? you sure?”. So I tried, but it hurt a bit and I was unsteady (bear in mind I was not using crutches or anything). So he decided I should go back in the boot and that the physio will take me out of the boot on Wed (in 2 days time). WHAT? WHY? If the foot is all good but my confidence is the only thing holding me back, than the confidence will not change by waiting it out in the boot.

It also turns out I still had one wedge in my boot because they FORGOT to tell me to take it out. He said the notes suggested I was already in neutral position, but in fact I still had a wedge there, so hmm ooops, he took my last wedge out and walking in the boot in neutral position felt so much more comfortable, I so wished I’d taken the wedge out myself without waiting for them to say to take it out. But you know what they say: always listen to the doctors. Grrr! I can take the boot off at night and do yoga and stretched without it on as much as I like/can handle. The doctor seemed eager to just pass me onto the physio and he said in two days’ time I’ll be out of the boot anyway.

I am trying to practice walking around the house barefoot without the boot and using the crutches. I figured that gently is better than suddenly doing the whole “walk to me without the crutches” stunt he suggested to try.

Looking forward to Wed & the physio’s advice.
Happy healing everyone!

If you are anything like me, you might wonder what Boris Becker or David Beckham did when they ruptured their achilles… Well here’s my list of fun things to do (or still enjoy) from the “comfort” of a cast:
* reading (lots of books you always wanted to but never could quite justify taking the time to; among others I finished Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy” at this time)
* learning guitar (or an instrument) or another language
* use your hands: knitting / quilting / crochet
* write that first novel you always wanted to (clearly about someone with an achilles injury)
* make your own website (or update it)
* watch all those DVDs you always wanted to
* have a nice bath (it’s not the same, particularly while in a hard cast, but it can still be ok, with bubble bath and candles and nice music)
* organise your photos / computer / files

Dear fellow achilles-rupture-sufferers,
This is a question rather than a post - anyone know of good useful poses while still recovering from the tendon rupture? I am a great fan of yoga and used to doing it every morning. Needless to say, I can’t do the salute to the sun anymore now and I miss it. I come out of the boot on Monday which might make it easier to do yoga, but also a bit more scary without the support.
I heard from the physio (over the phone while making the first appointment for next week) that balancing on one leg is out (dough!) so no tree-poses for me.
Any advice from yogis out there?
Thanks

Here I am walking in our little Reading flat.

I have not written before because I could not bring myself to - so this blog starts (officially) a little late in the piece. Following my rupture, I had surgery and went through a 2-week period in a hard old-fashionable cast. Following this, I was in an aircast boot, non-weight-bearing (NWB) for another 3 weeks after which I was allowed to slowly start putting weight on it. It took a week for me to be able to hobble around the house without crutches. And what a moment that was! My first cup of coffee, made and carried by me!!!

So here I am in a my walking aircast boot, able to walk around the flat and the office and cook, clean and even bathe on my own, 3 weeks on. I have been blessed with a lot of help from my partner and my work colleagues. Being a cripple, you learn where the cripple-friendly restaurants are, if your local movie theater has a good working lift and friendly stuff (NOT the Reading Vue Cinema I am afraid, do avoid it if you are in the area), if the local cafes are helpful and understanding to your condition (yey for the Nero Cafe by the River in Reading).

You also learn who your friends are, the people who email and see you regularly and who make an effort to be supportive. It is an eye-opener and, as the cliche goes, it is not always the ones you expect. Most people are quite shocked when they realise just how little you can do while in a cast and how limited your life becomes.
Unfortunately, it is not as easy as trying to focus on something else, particularly during the non-weight bearing phase when you have to be completely focused on the leg so as not to put it on the ground and re-rupture it.

Things get easier practically & mentally from then on. I have had a great help during this troublesome time as I read on a blog about leg caddies as an alternative to crutches. If you live in the UK, you can rent them from Chris’s website (see a picture of me on it below). here .

If you are in the US, there are more options, just search for them on the internet.

It gets better once you become fully weight-bearing, even though it’s shocking at first just how hard everything is.

I am a keen tennis player and a fan of long distance running. I lead an active lifestyle and cannot sit still. I am female, 30 years old, don’t smoke or drink and am fit. It turns out achilles tendons do not care if you are fit, young or active. They do their thing and if you are lucky you will not even know they exist. I was not so lucky.

The day I have torn my achilles I was playing the second match of tennis of the season. One minute I hit a backhand shot, the next I heard a loud DONG and went down like a tonne of bricks. I don’t remember the rest, apart from being on the ground feeling fragile and not keen to move. A day later, after a visit to a physio and consequently A & E, I found out that it was indeed a complete rupture of the achilles.

I decided to write a blog, because (1) last year I had chicken pox (yes seems like I am on some sort of roll here) and followed this wonderful blog which I found very helpful psychologically, and (2) I wanted to share useful tips I have learned from others along the way, and (3) I hope this diary will help me cope with the situation a bit better (as well as keep my friends & family up to date with my progress).

Things I have learned so far:
* ice ice baby (10 min in every hour for all acute injuries), heat promotes inflammation so avoid it
* always go to A & E, always! (A paramedic saw me and she seemed sure I had not ruptured it completely and suggested physio. Turns out she was wrong. I wasted time and £45 on a physio who sent me straight to A & E. Always go to A & E first.)
* A & E rooms are often cold, loud and unfriendly, take a friend with you or try to make conversation with people around you (if they are willing), the time will go quicker. Also, take some food and drink (my boyfriend came and dropped off some snacks and a drink bottle for me and it was a life-saver as there is nothing to eat/drink provided).