my story
hi everyone, i was searching through websites last night as i ruptured my achilles on May 11th and had surgery on May 16th. I am an irish dancer who desperatly wants to return to competitions ASAP, having already been told by doctors that there is no hope of me being able to dance at our national champs at the end of July, i thought i’d do a little research and found some great stories on here. I injured my right foot (achilles) at a competition completly tearing it on the left side and from what i understand the right side of my achilles was hanging on by a thread will confim this, it was the wierdest feeling ever i heard the snap/pop however i didn’t realise it was actually my leg i thought i’d broken the stage and my heel had gone through it. Then quite quickly it dawned on me that it was indeed my foot. Ididn’t know anything about this injury so whilst being in pain/upset i thought a few weeks maybe a of couple months if i’m really unlucky surgery wasn’t even in my thinking and i’ll be back dancing again quite quickly……. There were sports thearapists at the comp who immediatly knew what i had done and were quite concerned about me getting to hospital asap and not putting my foot on the ground due to the risk of damaging it futher. At the hospital i was put into plaster and advised that surgery was required this was scheduled for May 16th my first ever surgery/ first time being put to sleep. I was pretty scared all went well thankfully and i was told i would go into plaster for two weeks and then the stitches would be removed this happened on thursday just gone it wasn’t as painful as i expected i felt a pulling sensation but they took the stitches out so quickly it was ok. On reading everyones stories i’ve noticed that lots of people have been put into a boot quite quickly within a few weeks, my doctor in the UK seems to be following a different procedure i have to stay in plaster for 8 weeks after my surgery which i’m rather frustrated about returning every 2 weeks to have my foot moved up from a pointed position after that i will not go into a boot but will follow a physio programme, it just seems to be never ending. The bad news is that he said he does not expect me to return to dancing for 6 months, i said i would prove him wrong. Whilst i don’t want to re-rupture i don’t want to stay away from dancing longer then necsessary. Is there anything i can do whilst in plaster to keep my fitness up or keep my muscle strenght up? and when i come out of plaster what are peoples experience of the physio/ walking / returning to physical activity and what can i do then to help myself………. Can’t believe what a long process it is, and how many people have experienced this injury. whilst i’m devestated i do want to stay positive and not get too lazy and do whatever i can in my powers to help myself speed up my recovery and return to dance. Thankyou for reading and offering advice i will update any progress i have an appointment on june 9 th to have my plaster changed and foot moved up is this very painful?