12 Weeks Non-Op
October 17, 2012 by carissa321
Well, here I am … 12 weeks non-op and doing pretty good. I started strength training in PT at week 10 . This consists of:
1. seated heel raises … 2 sets of 10, did a week with no-weight and then added a five pound weight to each knee
2. standing on one leg … graduated from 3 reps of 10 secs to 3 reps of 30 secs
3. stair step-ups … started with 1 set of 10 and up to 2 sets of 10 now .. just stepping up a step with the bad AT and brining the good foot up and then going back down backwards .. just one step
4. theraband - 3 sets of 10 DF, PF and side to side
My PT had me doing some stretching as well, but I wasn’t feeling any stretch in my calf .. just blockage and pain in my ankle, so he felt that I should back off on that for a couple weeks.
I’m also still elevating and icing twice a day for 20 minutes each time …
I’m also doing a foam roller on my calves to help release the tightness that I have that probably caused the rupture in the first place.
Other than that, I added stationary biking 4 days ago. I did 20 minutes the first day and 30 minutes the next day, with low resistance. I was able to get my heart rate up. It felt great .. until a couple days ago when I started to feel pain in my bad AT. I’ve spent two days taking it easy now and will try again tomorrow and maybe take it a little more slowly.
I’m still wearing the boot when I leave the house. Being a housewife/stay-at-home-mom though, I don’t really go out all that much so I spend most of my time in bare feet …. which I really really missed! My PT said I should wear shoes in the house … but I just can’t bring myself to 
and I’m going fine without.
I only have one concern right now .. and that is the pain in the AT. I only feel it at the end of the day and it’s not constant .. more of a slow onset and then fade away over a couple of minutes. It’s a stabbing pain type feeling and often accompanied by an icey cold feeling. Does anyone else have this?
Oh, my sweeling has gone way down now … still lumpy bumpy along the AT, but I can definitely see improvement.
Happy Healing All!
I’m about 13 and a half weeks in, no-op. Doing my own PT.
For strength, I’m doing standing heel lifts using both feet. Most of the power is obviously coming from my good side, but I can certainly feel the bad tendon pulling. I do about 20 reps of lift, hold for a second, and slowly going down. I do this about 5 or 6 times throughout the day.
I’m also doing single-leg balancing, which is pretty difficult. I place my hand on the wall as a guide, letting go and touching back as needed. I do these about 3 times a day for about 4-5 minutes at a time.
I don’t really use my theraband anymore, as it seems too easy compared to the heel lifts. I almost feel like it doesn’t have enough resistance at this point.
As for Dorsiflexion, I finally got my knee to the wall. At about 11 weeks, I had maybe 5 to 10 degrees of DF past neutral just from walking around without the boot. I started actively stretching about 5 times a day since then and I can now touch my toe and knee against the wall at the same time. Very happy about this, since my ankle felt very stiff.
I’m still wearing my boot outside, which is probably overkill, but I want to be super cautious since I’ve read Sheena’s re-rupture story. I plan on wearing my boot in public places all the way up to the 16th week.
I do a lot of walking in my neighborhood, just wearing 2 shoes. I try to push off in my stride but I still have a pretty good limp. I’m not too worried about that at this point. I also cycle at my gym and do yoga in my boot at home.
I also have the pain in my AT at night when I first go to bed. I also feel it on both sides of my ankle. But, when I re-adjust a little, it goes away after awhile.
I still have a slight bump right below the break point in my tendon. It’s very subtle and doesn’t cause pain or other problems. So far so good. Still have a long way to go.
Other than that, I added stationary biking 4 days ago. I did 20 minutes the first day and 30 minutes the next day, with low resistance. I was able to get my heart rate up. It felt great .. until a couple days ago when I started to feel pain in my bad AT. I’ve spent two days taking it easy now and will try again tomorrow and maybe take it a little more slowly.