Bye bye boot (8 weeks+3) and hello gym!

Hooray!

Man I really hated that boot…never got on with it at all.  I was hopeless at walking in it, never could get the whole rocking thing going depsite my physio trying to show me. So my leg was always out to the side….aagh the hip pain!

Still, I’ve now ditched the boot and am hobbling around in a pair of running trainers constantly.  Even round the house, trainers on ALL the time.  Naturally I gave them a good clean first!

I tried without the boot last week, exactly 8 weeks post op, it was actually totally fine but I kept using the boot when out of the house for a few days.  If anything, it’s a clear sign to others to be wary of knocking in to you.

My issue now is learning to walk again.  At the moment when I walk I turn by bad foot (right) out to the side.  This is BAD so avoid this if you can.  I have the hip/groin pain to show for it.   It’s very difficult to walk with my foot facing forwards as there is no stretch at all in the tendon yet so my leg doesn’t bend when I walk.  So for now I’m kinda shuffling along.  Bad foot forward, then good foot up along side, and repeat.  It’s not exactly walking but that will have to do for now.  Small victories….

In other news,  I have joined a gym.  This is major for me as I don’t think I have ever stepped foot in a gym before, literally.  Sounds daft as I’m nearly 40 but I’ve always exercised outdoors (running, cricket, golf) with the occasional swim at my local pool.  So turning up at my nearest gym to find out what all the fuss was about felt very odd, there are some machines in there I have literally no idea whether they are for exercise or chopping vegetables.  I struck gold though, as the first personal trainer chap I spoke to (hello Ian) ruptured his achilles 5 years ago!  You beauty!  He’s going to show me all sorts of exercises I can do and help me through the next few weeks……I couldn’t believe my luck.

His advice for first exercises, apart from static bike that i have at home, is to walk up and down the swimming pool.  It doesn’t go beyond chest height so I can do entire lengths back and forth.  I haven’t tried it yet but might give it a go tonight.

I’m up to 12 minutes on my static bike now, 3 times a day.  The leg gets a little sore towards the end so 12 minutes is fine for now.  It’s a start….

So for the next few weeks it will be lots of pool work, bike at home and lots of physio exercises…..a little boring but patience is a good trait to have here.

Until next time,

Andy

3 Responses to “Bye bye boot (8 weeks+3) and hello gym!”

  1. Congratulations on losing the boot!

    I feel the same way at the gym. I stick to a few basic machines and look forward to the day when I can go back to outdoor activities for my exercise (running and tennis for me).

    I found pool walking to be very nice - mostly because it was a chance to walk somewhat normally with hardly any discomfort. You spend so much time being uncomfortable during recovery…the chance to feel nice and relaxed, and to walk semi-normally, is as helpful mentally as it is physically. At least, that’s how it went for me. Even now, 24 weeks after surgery, I look forward to going to the pool because I can almost forget that my leg still doesn’t feel right.

  2. Congrats on losing the boot! Take SMALL steps to start walking more normally. As my PT guy says - it is most important to have good form! When I got out of the boot he said take the smallest step you need so that you can walk with a normal boot. When I started jumping on one foot he said HOLD ONTO THE WALL so that I could do the jump perfectly. As things got stronger I could just put a hand on the wall, then a finger on the wall and I’m still at the finger on the wall point. And walking in the pool is definitely a good thing. I did it too - walked forwards and backwards and sideways.

    Good luck on your continued progress!

  3. congrats!!!!!! have you tried to walk without shoes?
    Did you start therapy?

    It was hard for me, now I have a hard time finding a pair of shoes that doesn’t hurt/irritate my scar which is still sore.

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