Posted on December 28th, 2019 by cwaterman
70y/o non-op 2-shoes x 6 days
I had a disheartening experience with PT about 5 days ago. Subsequently, I went back into the boot for a couple of days and felt a lot better. Then, all on my own, I restarted exercises including seated heel raises against resistance and heel-toe walking. I didn’t learn from my mistakes. Over did it again. Back into the boot.
My new game plan is to be less aggressive. Instead of trying to ditch the boot all at once, I will go in and out during the course of a day. And be less “hammer and tongs” about the exercises.
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Posted on December 24th, 2019 by cwaterman
70y/o non-op
I think my PT had me do too much yesterday. My calf hurts now and as a result, I am limping more. We did do some seated heel raises, but he started me with a 15 pound weight on my knee. Probably more than I should have attempted. Also, in retrospect, I think one of the other exercises we did resulted in dorsiflexing the ankle past neutral. The tendon area felt “lumpy” after PT, but now is back to yesterday’s pre-PT state.
Should I get back in the boot?
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Posted on December 23rd, 2019 by cwaterman
70 y/o non-op
Officially went to two shoes yesterday. My walking ability is fine but the lack of strength in my calf is depressing. I just finished walking a slow mile with only a mild to moderate limp. Unfortunately, any attempt to do a standing heel raise is met with instant failure. A minimal seated heel raise is possible, but I am not sure if the gastroc muscle is providing power or not.
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Posted on December 8th, 2019 by cwaterman
70 y/o Non-op
I removed the final 1″ wedge over 5 days after seeing my physiatrist. He said I was healing well but also announced that he could still palpate a defect. I thought I was doing better than that. I asked him if surgery was in my immediate future. He said no, unless something drastic occurred. Anyway, he told me to proceed with final wedge removal. The physiatrist also said that I should spend two weeks flat in the boot before going to 2 shoes.
My PT saw me on the day after my physiatrist . We worked on improving my gait. Not fun. I still had about 3/4″ of wedge in the boot. The area of my “tendon” was uncomfortable the following day. He also instructed me to start sub-max plantar flexion against a green Theraband. I am trying to consciously make my gastroc constrict in time with the plantarflexion. He didn’t tell me to do that, just seemed like the right thing.
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Posted on November 20th, 2019 by cwaterman
70 y/o Non-surgical
On R+2 days, I started with 3 wedges (each one inch), then quickly went to 2 wedges on day 8. There was a lot of confusion during the first few weeks as to what protocol (if any) I was supposed to follow. I initially saw an orthopedic surgeon who recommended surgery and had little interest in anything else. Now I am seeing a physiatrist. He and I settled on this protocol. His instructions were to remove one of the two remaining wedges on the start of week 6. To go from two inches to one inch seemed a little sudden to me, so I started hunting around for options. I purchased and played with several different types of wedges. I wanted to gradually go down to one wedge. I chose a wedge system that allows me to drop just about 1mm at a time. My game plan is to space the removal over a week or so.
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Posted on November 16th, 2019 by cwaterman
Age 70. Ruptured my right AT while playing pickleball (5th time I played the game).
Received AirCast boot with 3 wedges (each 1″) on day 2. Weight bearing was accelerated mainly because I had a tough time using crutches. Got around on a knee scooter as best I could.
Removed one wedge on day 8. Next wedge will be removed gradually over a period of about 5 days starting on day 35 (week 6). The final wedge will be removed in steps on day 49 after I see physician on that date.
Many thanks to Agnes, Evan, Morc, SJ and all the others who put so much effort into their blogs.
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