day 25

Posted on March 30th, 2008 by anne

this is anne here. i tore my AT from jumping to spike a volleyball. my fear is that i will be afraid to do any more jumping sports activites. to clariy–my injured leg is the right one that is booted…so not sure how to drive with the boot or if it is safe as micheal stated. i am not in pain but just tightness although my PT stretches me like crazy…i feel like it will be rerupture. i think the chance is like 10 -15% after repair. i do my exercises actually 3-5 times a day depending on your swelling which i don’t have much of. i do about 30 reps each. i also do straight leg raises, hamstrings curls, hip abduction in sidelying..etc booted to keep my leg from too much muscle atrophy; i also heard from a fellow AT patient at PT that he is wearing dansko shoes with a heel lift inserted vs. a boot now ( post op 12 weeks) and it has a higher heel ….has anyone heard of that dansko shoe used instead of the boot? take care!

7 Comments »

recovery

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by anne

hi! just had surgery 3 weeks ago and will be allowed  to put weight on with the walking boot but does anyone out there feel out of balance since the boot is so much higher in height than my regular shoe on my other foot? how do u stay balance with the walking boot ?

secondly-has another driven a car with the walking boot? i cannot drive with my left leg-i will likely hurt someone!

also-i don’t have pain but lots of tension and tightness with stretch and range of motion and the feeling it will rerupture..anyone else? thanks. anne

4 Comments »

Hello world!

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by anne

Welcome to Achillesblog.com.
This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Be sure to fill out your achilles rupture date and surgery date (if you know it).

We can give you more customized information this way.

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  • Recent Comments

  • Doc ross | April 10th, 2008 | 12:21 pm

    Kenron…
    another racquetballer…welcome..unfortunately..If you have questions feel free to ask us…I am about 2 1/2 weeks ahead of you…I just got the ok to go full weight bearing FWB. as you’llfind out that’s a major accomplishment for us ATRers..
    Good Luck with recovery.

    Doc Ross

  • dennis | April 10th, 2008 | 10:44 am

    Kenron - Glad that you found us, and thanks for sharing your story. Good to hear that the surgery went well.

    There are a couple of people here who injured their Achilles playing racquetball too. Good luck on your appointment tomorrow, and keep us posted!

  • Kenron Stewart | April 10th, 2008 | 10:07 am

    I was injured on March 17, 2008. I was playing racquetball when I heard a loud pop. I initially thought that the other player had stepped on the back of my shoe. I was unable to walk normally. I limped to the lockerroom and called my wife. My sisters are health care professionals. I asked them if this was going to linger. I was instructed to have the tendon examined by my doctor. The orthopedic specialist confirmed that I had indeed ruptured the tendon on my left leg. I had the surgery the day after the diagnosis. I have not had much pain, but I am very impatient. The surgery went well. I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday, April 11, 2008. This will be three weeks post op. I will continue to update when available.

  • brendan | March 30th, 2008 | 8:19 pm

    Anne - looks like you are just a few days behind me, I had my sugery on 3/3. I’d like to here the specific exercises you are working on for ROM (the ones you do 3-5 times/day 30 reps each)? That would be helpful for me, and I’m sure others that will be getting to ROM shortly. Also, if you want to see a sheet that compiles all of the ATR’s that are blogging/commenting on this site, you can go to http://achillesblog.com/brendan/achillesblog-user-datainformation/ and click on the first file link on the page.

    Oh..and my wife has a fairly large Dansko collection (she has a little addiction to shoes!)….and she mentioned that they do have heal lifts built in to them to put you in the plantar flexed position. Who knows, maybe I’ll have to break down and buy a pair myself as a little treat for getting to the shoe phase!

  • tomtom | March 30th, 2008 | 7:47 pm

    I don’t think the previous link for my site is working properly. Try this one… http://achillesblog.com/tomtom/

  • dennis | March 30th, 2008 | 7:13 pm

    Anne -

    I setup the Achilles Timeline on your behalf.
    I guessed your ATR date, so please feel free to correct it.

    The instructions are here:
    http://achillesblog.com/dennis/2008/03/08/achilles-timeline-widget/

    Glad that your recovery is progressing nicely, and keep us posted on your progress.

  • Tom | March 30th, 2008 | 7:05 pm

    Anne - Sorry to hear about your rupture, but it’s good to have another volleyballer on the site. I’ve been outnumbered by the b-ballers and skiers for several weeks now. Unfortunately, I can’t even say that my injury occured during a spike. I was stepping forward to backup our front row when my AT popped. You can read my story at http://www.achillesblog.com/tomtom.

    I think I’ll try and do a post regarding driving in the next couple of days. You may find it helpful.

  • michael | March 30th, 2008 | 9:53 am

    Jim:

    Do yourself a favor and rent an automatic until your left foot is out of the boot. Before my rupture, and then after but before surgery, I was driving with the boot on my right foot. It’s a little tricky for two reasons. First, since you can’t move your ankle you have to use your whole leg to press on the pedal. Of course, with the clutc that’s not unusual. The second, is the boot is quite wide and gives you no “feel”. As a result, it is quite easy to hit two pedals simultaneously. I did that a few times with my rigth-booted foot, hitting the accelerator and the brake together - not good. Since your right foot is ok, be safe and use an automatic of the time being.

  • Jim | March 30th, 2008 | 1:32 am

    Anyone drive a stick shift car? I do and my left leg is the injured one. Is it possible to drive a stick with a boot??? Should I start rigging up some sort of hand control?

  • dennis | March 30th, 2008 | 12:59 am

    Hi Anne,

    What I do is I walk a with my boot foot out to the side and that seems to help a little. There probably are some shoes with thick soles, and that’s even more helpful.

    How did you rupture your achilles? I guess it’s the right foot? I hope you find this site useful, and thanks for sharing your story.

  • brendan | March 29th, 2008 | 7:52 pm

    hi anne - welcome to the “club”…not a real exclusive one! How did you tear your AT? I am almost 4 weeks post op, and just got my boot yesterday, I’m still NWB, but on my first day of ROM exercises. I don’t have much pain either, but a ton of tension and tightness when doing the 1st and 2nd exercises on this: http://achillesblog.com/files/2008/03/exercise_at_home.pdf

    I’m not too scared of a reruputure doing ROM stuff, I’ve seen the knot and material they use for the repair and it’s strong. The tightness to me is a good sign that the tendon is attached…but still a strange feeling. I am able to just get to 90…but it’s definitely tight. For anyone else who has worked through the initial ROM exercises, how long before that tightness goes away, or at least gets less noticable? Any advice on frequency of the ankle exercises? I’ve been applying heat for 10 minutes, doing the exercises (~10 reps of each), massaging the foot/ankle/tendon/calf, and then icing for 10 minutes….doing this 3 times/day. Anyone think this is too much or not enough? Thanks!

  • Mr WordPress | March 29th, 2008 | 6:01 pm

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