Exercising during weeks 3-6 of recovery
I’m just about at the 3 week mark post op and am feeling the need to start doing some exercising. I’m wondering what others have done during the early phase of recovery. If you have any ideas of what works well with a cast on, I’m all ears. Also, how to strengthen the casted leg without doing damage to the recovering Achilles?
Here’s what I started with today.
- Rode my stationary bike for 10 min. doing one-legged pedaling clipped in while resting my bad leg on a bar stool. Then did a few slow rotations with both legs (I have a cast on my left leg so able to turn pedals very slowly and it felt okay).
- Did two sets of pushups using my Perfect Pupshups and resting my bad leg on the back of my good leg. If you want to join my Pushups for Life blog check it out here: http://web.me.com/davidrandrews/PushupsForLife/Welcome.html
- Did some sit-ups and a few sets on my V2 Hoist weight machine. Not much but it felt better than doing nothing the past 3 weeks.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Let me see, what did I do at three weeks? Oh yeah, I was still firmly entrenched in my recliner, pretty much like I would be for the following several weeks. Come to think of it, that’s where you can locate me most of the time (if I’m not at PT or the golf course).
Sorry, but I got over the compulsion to “have” to do something a long time ago. Now I just let things flow as they want to. Works for me!
February 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hey there! Sorry to hear about your injury, but it sounds like you are young enough still to recover quickly–well, quick is relative, huh? —And I think young is relative, too, when you’re our ages!!
I’m glad you have a great wife and kids to help you out and it’s good to hear you are back at work already! I probably would have milked it longer than you did!!!
I don’t know anything about exercising for your injury, my mom just recovered from total knee replacement, so that’s all I know about….hopefully some good information will come about because of this blog. I know my mom received sometimes totally opposite views from the docs and PAs when she was recovering. We have to be our own researchers, these days, it seems!!
Have a great rest of the week! Keep exercising!!!
February 18th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Do all the push-ups and sit-ups you want. Maybe throw in some pull-ups, bicep curls and back rows as well. I’m a semi-competitive power-lifter so I didn’t want to fall too far behind after my ATR. I took a week off after surgery (Oct. 16th) but went right back to the gym. Just worked out upper body on machines for a couple weeks. After getting a new cast with my foot in the neutral position, I started free weights again which got easier once I got into a weight bearing boot and didn’t have to hobble around the gym with crutches anymore. Didn’t do much cardio while in a cast because the casting tech told me to try to not sweat too much. Once in a boot, 5 weeks post op, I was almost back to normal with my upper body weight lifting and started working my calf muscle daily by doing toe presses with bungie cords followed by massages and electronic muscle stimulator (STEM). I think the STEM machine sped up my recovery a great deal by helping me regain my calf muscle strength and increasing blood circulation to speed up the tendon repair. I was tempted to try to use the STEM on my calf muscle when I was still in a cast but told not to which was very good advice. Easy to make up for the atrophy later and not worth messing with the repaired tendon too early. Also, I only went to one PT session. Not due to money or anything, just felt like I had a good grasp of what I needed to do on my own. Started walking on the treadmill at 10 weeks and worked to a slow jog by week 12. Did my first 5 mile trail run at 14 weeks post op and now feel almost completely normal again. My tendon is still a little tight in the morning and I’m not ready to make any quick explosive moves, like try to dunk a basketball, but life is pretty much normal again. My ATR repair was straight forward with no complications and didn’t require any screws or tendon transfers. I think my recover went about as fast and smoothly as possible so you have to adjust your time-line and activities accordingly to the severity of your ATR and your doctor’s advice. Good luck! phu
February 18th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Thanks for stopping buy to share your insights. I really appreciate the comments and hearing your ideas. Thanks, phu for the great rundown on your exercise plan post op. I will stick with mostly weights until I get a boot. The STEM sounds like it really helped. I have no idea what to expect for PT so your input was helpful. Thanks!