Hello again HELP!
I should have kept in touch …. But it doesn’t take long before life takes over again and it’s not all about your Achilles’ tendon . Which , on one hand is great because you begin to live again . On the other hand , the exercises and stretching slide down the list of priorities .
I have progressed steadily and have no limp and have full range of motion . However , I’m now 9 months post rupture ( conservative non surgical ) and feel sick to my stomach with fear . I am getting twinges and niggles I’m my “bad leg ” as I still call it . I’m discharged now but called my physio anyway . I haven’t been stretching my tendon and ran / hurried for a bus on Sat after a day out for lunch and wine ! I am terrified I have done some damage as get light shooting pains and am just acutely aware of every twinge in my tendon and calf . I feel so stupid for running for the bus . I have had no problems , probably because I have been so careful , and now I’m terrified of a re rupture . Physio advised massage and movement with plenty stretches and most likely some shortening due to lack if stretching and overworking it . Thinks it will settle down and advised heal raise now I’m wearing flat pumps .
Please reassure me , I hope this is just a reminder I’m not out the woods and need to re prioritise my ongoing recovery !!! Thanks Clare
kkirk Said:
on May 9, 2013 at 12:02 am
RICE and then slowly start those exercises again would be your best bet for now. IT sounds like you might of “overdid it” and agree with your physio, but then again it never hurts to get it checked out. Good luck.
normofthenorth Said:
on May 9, 2013 at 1:22 am
Even at 9 months, it’s best to stay INCREMENTAL. Ironically, that means that progressing steadily until you start running, will make you much safer, the next time you’re close to missing a bus. Re-rupturing at 9 months is pretty unheard-of, probably worthy of an article in a fancy medical journal, so I wouldn’t fear that a lot. But — especially if you’ve been babying that leg — there are lots of other ways to give yourself a setback by suddenly overdoing. Legs are complicated, and many muscles and tendons and ligaments and propriocentric feedback loops were snoozing and atrophying while you were injured, immobilized, and recovering.
Don’t go straight to “no pain, no gain”, but do keep “use it or lose it” in the back of your mind. Our legs weren’t born knowing how to be strong, fit, active, and pain-free legs, they had to learn how, through practice. It sounds like you’ve been treating yourself like an invalid a bit too long for your body’s good — but don’t take that as an excuse to abandon incrementalism. You’ve got to walk before you can run, etc., etc.