Down to one wedge, what’s that knot?
Yesterday, I decided to reduce the wedges under my heal to one, from the two that I had before. I have to say, it feels really good, and I can walk much better with only one wedge. I am still in a boot, but I am planning to try to put on a shoe in the next 10 days. My next doctor visit is July 6, but I don’t want to wait that long. I suspect, I will alternate between boot and shoe, but we’ll see.
I do have one concern with my leg. I have developed a little knot at the top of the incision line, under the skin. It is not painful to the touch, but I am just wondering if it should be there. Has anyone had a similar knot on the back of their leg? Is it scar tissue, or what?
June 21st, 2011 at 11:17 am
If the tissue bunches up there when you point your toe (plantarflex), then it’s an “adhesion”. Yes, it’s scar tissue, and it’s “gluing” together adjacent layers of tissue that are supposed to slide over each other. They weren’t stitched together (we hope!), but they were all sliced at the same time, so things often heal together in the wrong direction in the mad rush to reconstruct all those torn and sliced tissues. I’ve still got a trivial one at the top of my incision from the surgical repair of my first ATR, almost 10 years ago.
Mine doesn’t do any harm at all, except that I can see a tiny “bunch” when I crank my toes down as hard as I can. If yours is more significant than that, many PTists LOVE getting a crack at post-op adhesions. They take a big backswing and work you over to break them up, often successfully.
Don’t forget how much risk you’re at for re-rupture, and Watch Your Step. You’re just entering the riskiest weeks, until around 12 wks post-op when the risk starts fading fairly fast. My fave fast (and v. successful) protocol keeps the boot on for walking ’til 8 weeks, then “wean off boot”, so you don’t HAVE to spend a lot of time in shoes earlier than that!
June 22nd, 2011 at 12:55 pm
It seems like your recovery is really coming along. Seems like you’ll hit your golfing by Aug goal if you keep up this progress! Great job!