beanie’s AchillesBlog

18 weeks and things are still moving along, sometimes well and sometimes not so well.  I’m extremely happy with my progress on the good days.  I get a bit down and worried on the bad days.  I think that my ratio of good to bad is about 1 to 2 right now, i.e. I have 1 excellent day followed by 2 not so great days.

I hate writing anything negative, I don’t really like to even think negative.  But the blog won’t be helpful unless I express that this rehab is not a walk in the park.  It probably doesn’t help that on those good days I tend to try and push as much as possible which inevitably leads to the bad days where I get worried that I’ve done too much and hurt my fresh new baby tendon in my exuberance.

Up to week 16 my good:bad ratio was 1:1.  I would work hard then rest the next day.  So it’s a bit worse now at 1:2 but I think it’s because of how much more I can do on the good days.  Nothing ever hurts while I do it, but afterwards I struggle with sensitivity to touch, heat, swelling, reduced ROM, tightness, general uncomfort and awareness that it’s not 100%.

So now that I’ve laid out that it’s not a bed of roses, let me go into detail about the good days

I’m trying to stick to the eccentric program up to my personal point of failure each day.  No matter how bad I feel, I do at least 30 straight and 30 bent eccentric lowers over a step in some form every day, i.e. 3×10 or 2×15 or 6×5.  I usually do more, aiming to hit 90 of each every day.  I have just started to add weight as well - boy does that wear me out quickly.  Just 2kg and even my good leg starts shaking at the end of the sets.

On Christmas day (last Friday - 17 weeks), I did an 8km (5 mile) coastal walk which was wonderful and surprisingly ok.  It was a long walk, so I rested on Saturday.

On Sunday, I did a 2km walk in hiking boots in order to get used to having the feeling of a boot pressing on my achilles.  Then I hit the gym intending to work hard.  I did a 20min treadmill walk cranking it up to 6km/h (3.7 miles/hr) and pushing the gradient up to 5%.  This is pretty fast walking and it made me want to jog.  Although my physio said no 1.5 weeks ago, I decided just to try two short jogs of 15 seconds each at 6km/h (very slow for a jog).  Although transitioning to a jogging style was scary, it didn’t hurt at all.  I then did 5×15 rack toe presses building the weight.  Then 5×10 single calf raises but with body weight supported by the tricep cable pull down machine.  Then split squats.  Then 1km row - with both legs for the first time!  After 4 months of rowing with one leg, I can’t explain how weird two legs felt.  Then in the pool I did hopping, squat jumps, single calf raises and finally a length of running focusing on pushing off and extending backwards like a proper run.  It was a big day and I loved it, leaving the gym with both legs wobbling.  I have certainly paid for this afterwards.

Monday and Tuesday were spend babying my injured leg with as much elevation and rest as possible and a few ice water baths as well.  Strangely my ROM increased significantly and I could suddenly do a knee-to-wall measure of 8cm holding for 30sec with barely any pain.  I have really been struggling with a tight muscle just under my shin on the inside of my leg that prevented me from deep dorsiflexion.  But that seems to have disappeared now which has encouraged my hope that the "big calf day" was actually a good thing.

Today at almost 18 weeks, i pushed it again (I must be stupid!).  I added 2kg to my eccentrics.  I tried proper lunges which I haven’t been able to do with the bad foot’s toe bent and taking weight - but I managed so I did a bunch of back and forward lunges.  Then I tried a squat aiming for hip crease below knee crease and I got it!  So I did a bunch of those.  Then I did some side-stepping exercises and a quick few jogs.  And then I decided it was time to try out hopping on land - and I got this too!  Unfortunately, as I type I am once again paying for it and wondering why I don’t just hold back and try one new thing instead of 10 on the good days?!?!  Hopefully what I’m doing is not setting me back.

Finally, I have 2 big lumps of hard (scar?) tissue inwards from my scar towards the shin / ankle and they are not getting any smaller no matter how much I massage them.  The whole area used to be hard but now it’s getting more supple and these big bumps are emerging.  I think they’re getting bigger, but it’s hard to measure.  Robyn posted me some great information on massaging scar tissue which I’m now trying to apply - thanks so much Robyn!

Happy New Year everybody!  I hope 2016 holds a year full of mobility for us all!

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