cellblock4’s AchillesBlog

We aim to educate our patients about and other natural solutions to common health problems in order to motivate you to take a more active and responsible role in restoring and maintaining your own health as well as the people around you.

We aim to educate our patients about and other natural solutions to common health problems in order to motivate you to take a more active and responsible role in restoring and maintaining your own health as well as the people around you.

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Complete Care Chiropractic Clinic: Chiropractor Innaloo, Perth, WA (Western Australia) Back Pain, Neck pain, Sports Injury, Headache and Migraine Headache Relief

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hey iski7b,

thanks. you certainly encouraged me to go for my first jog so i really appreciate that. good luck with your progress.

will post update in a few months.

Great summary! Nice work! I’m @ 9 mos. post-op, myself, and am feeling great. The heel raises haven’t been quite as elusive for me as for others, but they’re still not perfect, and getting the combination of quality AND quantity is still a goal of mine. You had quite the battle. The embolism is scary, and I think it is fantastic that you are communicating that informaiton to the group, as it could be very, very helpful in saving someone grief, or even their life?!?? Anyway…nice work, keep it up and update us at 12 mos! I’m sure it will be even more inspiring!

Unclebuck,

I couldn’t imagine FWB either, but after reading other people’s recovery blogs and being frustrated with crutches/knee walker in the city, I was ready to give it a shot. The initial pins and needles feel weird, but your body quickly adjusts. Your heel might kill you for a couple of weeks, but it goes away. And it seems to be that in the boot, your AT is relatively safe so once you are FWB, I would try walking around as much as possible. It’s still annoying given your legs are aligned differently because of the boot height.

Striking the right balance between letting your AT heal a bit, but not letting your calf atrophy too much is key. Like I said, I feel as though I’d be so much closer to 100% now had I been a bit more aggressive. Obviously, your doctor knows best and can tell if how well your AT is healing. And, ultimately the downside of a re-rupture far outweighs the upside of doing activities a month sooner, but I felt comfortable given I had surgery.

I didn’t have a boot that set specific angles, it just had 4 wedges which I took out 1 once a week, but I was FWB with my foot at those angles. So, I assume

Cellblock…great stuff, scary stuff as well! Glad u made it through! So, do you actually think you were ready for FWB at 4 weeks? I am at 4 weeks 4 days and I can’t imagine bearing weight…most due to the tightness in the AT. I am not quite to neutral, boot set at 15 degrees. I am ever so slightly bearing weight with the crutches however. VERY lightly…I have my first PT and 2nd follow-up with my surgeon this Friday. We’ll see how it goes!!!!

Great to hear you are making good progress. It sounds like your patience will pay off soon.

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yoga is a fantastic option…..in fact, yoga is starting to become a staple of offseason workouts for NFL players. You will simulataneously add strength while keeping you muscles elongated and loose. There are also many added benefits associated with the breathing control yoga promotes. Try and find a yoga partner so you can keep each other going! Your lack of flexibility is probably the key reason why your achilles tendon failed……if you can lose the weight, now would be a good time. Recovering on a lighter frame is going to be much easier on your tendon. try and stay positive, continue the push for physical improvement every week, and always try to stay ahead of the flexibility curve. when it comes to finding a top gear while running, single leg calf raises will help you the most. I have been able to run at fast jogging paces for weeks now, and am just discovering that the lifting ability of the calf in the repair leg is what is keeping my body from pushing into a new gear………..turns out our bodies do have a mind of their own. good luck and god speed.

i think my ATR was from overuse. i was playing in 3 different flag football leagues (3 weekly games, sometimes 2 per day) on turf with cleats. plus, i was jogging 2-3 times per week. basically i was giving my body 1 day off per week. in addition, i have a stocky frame. i’m 5′8 but 185lbs and built like a running back. i could probably lose 7-8 lbs, but not much more. my tendon was really sore and i would continue to play/jog on it regardless of the pain. one day, i went for a jog and then 2 hours later showed up to my football game. by this time my tendon probably had tightened up and i didn’t warm up and the rest is history. no medications at all.

i do supinate and am not that flexible. would yoga help here? i’ve been debating yoga for a while now. still planning to do return to PT (taking a break to strengthen my calf) so that i can participate in more advanced drills/plymetrics. will definitely check out those finger shoes. thanks grant.

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your achilles tendon ruptured for a reason….. the first step is to identify why, if you can. my guess is you have a generally lack of flexibility. Muscles stay fairly strong as we age, but tendons become weaker. A flexibility routine is a must if you want to save yourself from future damage. A must! Some medications also lead to weakened tendons. Were you on medication?

I returned to soccer at 4 months and 3 weeks after a complete rupture and surgical repair. I have played three weeks now without a glitch. I was once blessed with exceptional speed, but find myself wondering if that will ever return. I can cut and jog around just fine, but my body seems to be rejecting sprinting. My body is saying no so I am following. I refuse to give up sports and am determined to play at a competitive level. However, I would never return to competitive play without changing my body. I advise you do the same. Are you carrying too much weight for your frame? Is a lack of flexibility your problem? Medications? Poor shoes? Overpronating?

If you return blindly back into a sport that injured you, expect the same result. Ta

wow, i didn’t realize that the other AT was THAT much at risk. i don’t want to coddle anything and plan to return to explosive sports. i just want to know what activities might be risky and then be mindful of the tradeoffs. for example, i don’t particularly enjoy crossfit because it’s a brutal workout, so would rather skip box jumps if creates more risk. point is if i’m going to risk a re-rupture or other AT, i’d rather be doing an activity that i enjoy like flag football.

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That “backpedaling and then trying to shoot forward” is a classic way to load up your AT as heavily as possible. If it’s got a weak enough spot, that’s when it will first rupture. But virtually NOBODY re-ruptures a healed ATR. It’s the OTHER AT you should be worried about when you return to explosive and “high risk” sports like Flag Football.

In the “Studies” page that’s linked from the Main Page here (near the top left), you’ll find a link to a study about something like “transaxle” or “transverse” (?) ATRs. They followed a bunch of healed ATR patients, and compared their risk of “doing” the other AT, with the ATR risk of the population as a whole, within just the first few years. It’s not a huge probability in absolute terms, but it’s hugely higher than the background population risk — ~200X higher, IIRC!

The risk that one of those people RE-ruptured the HEALED AT was so low they didn’t bother reporting it. So, if you’re determined to worry about something. . .

And BTW, nobody really knows what happens if you coddle one of those at-risk ATs. Maybe it survives until it ruptures for nothing when you’re 83, or maybe it neve

I don’t know if what you have is normal or not, but early on in my recovery I felt some aching around the AT near my heel region below the actual rupture site and asked my surgeon about it. He mentioned that when the rupture happens because it is so explosive, the tendon fibres on each end of the rupture are frayed, he described it similar to a horse’s tail. Apparently some of these frayed tendon fibres extended quite far “down” the tendon away from the actual rupture site almost to the heel region. This is just a theory and I have no idea whether it would be the cause of your issue. But maybe you had a similar thing with the tendon fibres splittling explosively, and because you inherently produce more of a scar tissue response, there is palpable scar tissue further towards the heel?

hey norm. yes, exactly, the scar tissue is lower down the leg toward the heel. my surgeon found it by just feeling the tendon and squeezing a bit. his response was “hmm…why do you have scar tissue lower down the leg than the actual rupture point? interesting.” that response obviously doesn’t make feel good. again, he was surprised a few months ago when he said “wow, your body throws down a lot of scar tissue!”

i did ask him if i could run on it and he said “go ahead, you can’t hurt it, but not sure how you will given you’ll have no propulsion from your weak calf.” i have to say i’ve been running on it 1-2x a week for about 2.-2.5 miles and it feels fine. plus my calf is gained considerable strength from running as opposed to just assisted calf raises.

anyway, i’ll proceed with caution. thanks again for your help.

You say the scar tissue is “below” the repair. You mean lower down when you’re standing, right? Like closer to the heel? Not “underneath” in the sense of “deeper” in the leg, right? I think the short answer is that I don’t know, and maybe nobody here does, either, based on the deafening response.

Your OS found this scar tissue by palpating your leg? Obviously, scar tissue in general is formed in response to injury, either from something like an ATR or from something else like surgery itself. It doesn’t require a rupture or tear for scar tissue to form. It’s possible that your AT was inflamed or injured or partially torn in a different spot than where it was ruptured and repaired — either at the same time or earlier (probably not later).

My AT was examined 3x with UltraSound in the weeks after my latest (2nd-side) ATR, and each time produced a different opinion about the rupture. The last time, the Doc said it looked as if the R was “partial but multiple”. I have no idea if that opinion (or either of the other two) was correct, but I assume these things do sometimes happen. Maybe that’s what happened to you in the other spot,

he did initially mention about 3 months in that my body throws down a LOT of scar tissue in comparison to his other ATR patients.

I ran 1.5 miles on Saturday & 5×400’s today. Splits were between 81-96seconds. Recovery was in the 5min range. Tendon still attached…:)

I did an 800 and 5×200’s yesterday and my calf is sore today. But, I’m happy I can run :35 seconds! I wish I could run 2 miles like you but I’m too out of shape. I need to lose some weight which should help.

i went for a 2nd run (about 2 miles) and my calf is really sore again. so i’m definitely working the calf muscle and hopefully that means it will strengthen faster so i can return to normal activities. it’s good to hear that others are starting to run themselves around the same time frame. for those that are in the early stages, it gets easier.

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When I was in the pool the surgeon (Who happened to be their swimming laps) told me to run when I felt comfortable to do so. He did recommend a flat foot strike. So far I am not running and resiting the temptation to do so. It is far to awkward as I don’t have the elasticity nor the muscle length in my cast to allow a comfortable stride.

This may change in the next couple of weeks as my formal physio starts today, it helps to have your physio as a friend who has given me exercises since the cast came off. Including deep water jogging, some cycling no stretching, but some balancing on my bad leg.

I have tried some lifts ups, I can do the two footed and on my good leg. Not even close on my bad leg. Through I am trying to remember if I have ever been able to do them with my left leg due to past injuries.

Cheers
Harry

Great job on being able to jog 2 miles! I am at 24 weeks as well and have been running pretty regularly but still can’t do 1 mile. I’ve been doing lots of 100/200/400 repeats with lots of recovery. My best times have been :37 sec for 200 and 1:30 for the 400. I’ve mastered going downstairs which was really hard to do and can almost do a calf raise. I found it’s easier to run than to walk, though. I cramp easier when just shopping at the mall vs. doing my track repeats. Maybe because the foot is on the ground longer?

Hope my experience helps and sounds like you’re on track!

i take it back. my calf is getting pretty sore now.

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went and saw the surgeon yesterday and he said all was heeling well and told me take out my 1/4 inch heel lift. i still cannot do a one legged heel raise so he said you can jog on it, but it won’t do you any good because you won’t have any propulsion off your bad foot. regardless, i went for a short jog (closer to a shuffle) for about 2 miles yesterday. he was right, it felt very awkward because i couldn’t push off my bad foot, but no pain or swelling at all from the “run.” i’m just going to have to do heel raises like crazy to get back to normal. unlike Lsjoberg, my calf does not hurt at all. That might be because there was no pushing off my toes. I probably will “jog” once a week and see how I progress. I promised myself I would jog on my 6 month mark, and have to say I’m pretty close to my goal. Just have to proceed with caution and of course PATIENCE. Thanks for the input LSJ and Norm. btw, Norm good luck with clearance for cardio.

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cool. thanks gents. i’m going to see what the doc says this morning and will post tomorrow if i indeed do try a slow and lightjog.

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I think I’m with LSJ on this. My first (”ultra-conservative”) surgeon told me to lay off the explosive high-risk sports until I could do a bunch of 1-leg heel raises without grunting or grimacing — but this time that’s elusive, so I plan to ease into gentle running, as soon as my Cardio experts give me the all-clear.

I say go for it, start at a light pace on level ground and see how it feels.

Hi Cellblock.
I am almost 12 months post rupture. Had a very slow and painful recovery. With the threat of corrective surgery in the future.

I too have/had a lot of scar tissue. The pain could be irritation caused by the scar tissue, especially if you also get swelling. Deep manipulation of the scar area by your physio will promote the growth of collagen, and in turn break down the scar tissue.

hey norm,

so i went for a follow up with my surgeon this morning and he asked me to try a 1 and 2 legged heel raise. i can’t do a 1 legged and barely got a 2 legged one. i also developed that pain this afternoon on my heel/tendon. it’s a decent amount of pain and i almost had to take a pain killer. my question is, i have to assume that some of this pain is to be expected right? i’m now stretching the tendon more than it has been used to in over 3 months. also my surgeon said i’ve built up more scar tissue than most. could the pain be some of that scar tissue breaking up??

At 9 weeks I was out of my cast and into my VACO cast for 4 weeks. At week 11 I started doing 2 foot heel raises in the pool (with water up to my waist). I’ve continued that (I’m around week 13 now) and have added two foot jumping in water. I’m doing the regular physio stretching blah blah blah as well. I’ve loved the pool work. Being able to jump, even in the pool, is awesome. But I know to go slow because re-rupture before the 6th month marker is the danger period. And I’d shoot myself if it re-ruptured (knock on wood).

I’m at 12 weeks to the day and PT had me start 2-legged heel raises just today. I’ve been doing them at home for a week or so. the way it has been described to me, the biggest risk at this point post-op is less whether or not the ATR has healed (it should have by now) but the tightness in the tendon and surrounding muscles, so the key is proper stretching and warm-up and then caution with the heel raises until the ROM and strength comes back.

good luck!!!

thanks iski7b and norm. i’m trying to balance my excitement of new found freedom and being patient. i know i’m in the high risk stage at the moment and have to keep reminding myself not to overdo it. i will move forward with caution.

After my first ATR, with surgery, I spent a LONG time in casts then a hinged boot, and briefly escaped at ~17 weeks, when I could suddenly walk properly barefoot. That same day, my PT got me to overdo on 1-leg heel raises (which I could do a few of!). I rapidly developed a serious pain where the AT meets the heel bone, and went right back into the boot for a MONTH before the pain went away.

After the second ATR (other side), without surgery, I was much more cautious, but I’ve also been regaining calf strength — especially the top of the heel raise — much more slowly. 14 months post-non-op now, and I’m still mostly doing TWO-leg heel raises and “up on two, down on one”. No deficit in walking or bicycling or such, but the top of that heel raise is still too tough.

It’s a powerful exercise and an excellent test because it’s a tough test. It’s also a good exercise NOT to overdo too soon.

I’m still working on two-footed heel raises, where I primarily raise w/the “good” foot, and focus more on the lowering process and incorporating the “bad” foot in that (eccentric muscle action) as much as possible.
My PT and Ortho surgeon have seen studies that show that eccentric muscle action stimulates tendon growth. Some studies are even achilles specific.
I am at 13 weeks, 1 day, post-op. I started them about 2-3 weeks ago, I believe.