2.5 months and about to walk
Well i went to the OS last week and he had me stand with the boot on . This was after he squeezed my calf and said the tendon looks like its healing nicely. I was petrified to stand and i did with not much discomfort. but certainly felt it. I couldn’t walk(not that he asked me too) and he just wanted me to start to stand and apply a little pressure this week. He had me order 1.5 inch heel lifts to my shoes so this week when i go back he will i guess try and have me slowly walk . I still have a bit of nerve pain. nighttimes are always worse. I have been rubbing in Cocoa butter. I have not had any PT was looking forward to that. i guess it will come soon. have had zero ROM exercises yet. I am still in the boot and think i am in it for a little while longer. My OS says 6 months total till i walk normally and 12 months till sports. I was wondering if anyone usd a jacuzzi and the thoughts after 10 weeks …is it ok for the tendon?. Also i hear someone say something about ICE. thoughts on that too. Just excited to see some progress and can’t wait to be on two feet and get rid of knee walker. I will be taking it slow though as i want to make sure i don’t hurt the tendon. but from my understanding once you are ready to walk it is in pretty decent shape.
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Congratulations Arib!
As long as you don’t have open wounds, I don’t think there will be any problem with a Jacuzzi… but I’m no expert.
Good luck with the lifts. My shoes become slippers with the inside lifts, but my orthopedist wants me to get a shoe repair place to add a 2″ heel to an old pair of shoes… my local shoe repair guy has been rejecting the idea, so I’ll have to simply take an old pair of shoes to him and insist…
In any case, I’m celebrating being able to walk in my boot, and have even gone dancing! Not much, not too fancy, but I had fun!
Manny
Good stuff Arib, you are getting there! At 10 weeks your tendon has healed it’s just not strong yet, the process of strengthening takes up to a year. You can’t hurt it standing and walking in the boot at this stage, so try not to worry about that (I know it’s hard). I have a suggestion that may help when you transition to walking next week. Stand at a table or counter so that you can use your hands for balance. Then gently start shifting your weight from left to right. Aim to gradually take more and more weight onto each leg. Getting used to the sensation as well as gaining confidence in feeling weight while standing on your injured leg will help you when you try to walk again. Good luck with your continued recovery and all the best!
Manny
Listen to your OS not your shoemaker!! My OS also had me getting a lift as you can’t stretch tendon as of yet so that’s why you are not flat footed yet … I also will have lifts being made and shoemaker knew about it .. I actually brought him sneakers and shoes .. Good luck
Beanie THANKS SO MUCH.. You are a Weath of info .. Was getting worried how I would walk with boot and shoe with lift .. Looking forward to walking even with lift .. What is the pain at the end of the day … What about inflammation or blood flow after walking … I currently take boot off a couple times a day while on couch and rub lightly my foot … Any other good ideas … My foot is so dead and the back looks a bit swollen and of course the calf atrophied … I have JD zero ROM or PT yet … Thanks again beanie
Arib, you are going to love walking again, it will be difficult at first but then you’ll get it and your recovery will shift into a new gear. You shouldn’t experience any more pain as you transition to walking in the boot. You may experience some stretching but if it’s painful then back off and wait a bit and then try again. If it’s still painful then sleep and try again the next day, etc. Small increments, things improve quite rapidly so you will be surprised. If you do too much (I always got too excited and did a bit much) then I wouldn’t say that it gets painful, but it gets uncomfortable and tired and you will find yourself limping more or not putting as much weight on the leg. This doesn’t harm it, just lets you know to back off a bit, rest and elevate and let it calm down and then try again. As you start doing more it will swell a bit more. My solution for this was always to elevate. Whenever I could I put my foot up above my heart and always slept with it up. Blood flow to the area should improve the more you do, so that’s a good thing. You’ll be waking up parts of your entire leg from your toes to your glutes, so don’t be surprised if the whole leg gets tired. My OS also didn’t tell me to do any ROM, but after reading the blogs and studies I decided that it was a good idea to gently move my foot around as soon as I got the boot. If I was you, I would start doing gentle “active” ROM. This means to move your foot with your own leg muscles. Support your leg on a pillow and out of the boot and then gently point your toes down away from your face and return back to where it was. Don’t try to pull the toes back towards your face yet and always move in a range that has no pain. Also move your foot from side to side and in circles in both directions. And finally because it’s fun, write the alphabet in the air with your foot. At first you will be very weak and your foot won’t move much, but don’t worry it improves quickly. Once you start feeling comfortable with walking in the boot, then have a scan through some of the comments on this blog site for how to walk in the boot because there’s a way to allow your shin pushing into the boot to sort of roll you forward and this allows you to have a good heel-to-toe walk in the boot that is limp free, comfortable and helps to prevent a bad limping style of walking. But don’t worry too much about that yet, first get yourself ready to take those first booted steps!
Just be super careful! My doctor moved me into shoes at about this time and I re-ruptured it about 5 days later. When I do it again, I’m going to order “tactical boots” or something with a really supportive sole. I did it the first time by just stepping up onto a curb wrong and my foot dropped, re-rupturing my achilles.
Arib,
A few things nobody has mentioned. After not walking for a few months the bottom of your foot gets round and squishy. It feels weird but it goes away quickly.
When you transition out of the boot, it does not need to be an absolute thing. Go without it at home, use the boot out in the world.
Your foot will get sore because you haven’t been using it, not because you screwed up your AT repair. ICE is your friend. If your ankle hurts, ice it. Get a couple of those blue 6 inch by 8 inch gel pads and put them in the freezer. Put it around your ankle with an ace bandage. 20 minutes max. It will hurt. After about a week of icing your ankle regularly, you stop feeling it.
amountainclimber,
Thx..Right now I am in the boot and just putting weight on the leg with the boot. I would be petrified to put my foot down without boot…and the OS has not told me to do that yet…as for Ice sounds like that may help the swelling..gonna be very careful and take baby steps (no pun intended) as i dont want to hurt anything and make sure im doing things right..getting the shoes with lifts today so it will be interesting to see how it feels with boot and lifts….dont know how im gonna walk. anyone know how lon it might take to get used to walking with boot. i tried what beanie recommended about standing at table and shifting weight at it seems to help….who would have thought i would be so excited to walk!!!…the things we take for granted…
Hey there well I went to my OS and he took boot off and has me walking in elevated 2inch sneakers and shoes… Scared shitless at first to put my foot down but I am walking/ limping with Cain . He wants me to stop thinking about it and walk . I am going in a cruise with the family and taking Cain and knee walker just in case I’m tired . After day one of walking felt tired but after day two had huge swelling until the morning and foot hurt and tingling in back on foot by lower Achilles / by ankle .. In the morning seems good … As I am going into this phase any suggestions. The OS said I can put my foot in the water and and very lightly kick a bit not hard but softly . What about jacuzzi does anyone think that helps. The blood flow and swelling suck .. I am using jobst sticking hiding the day .. Happy healing all …. Nice to be on two feet ( kinda)
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Great news, Arib! it is exciting to think that in a few weeks I, too, will probably be having the same questions you have! Except for the cruise…
Good call on taking the knee walker, since I am walking in my boot and get tired, too, and am now tempted to take my crutches with me when I know I’ll have a long day…
Good luck, Arib!……………. Manny