Day 22 Post Op - So far so good.
Well I have had my walking boot for 8 days now and so far so good. I have seen small progress in only a week which I am very pleased with. I take the boot off 3 times a day for a couple of hours each time. I wiggle and curl up my toes 5 or 6 times each occasion. I have also got full motion side to side with my ankle. I can walk with the help of my crutches well now but only around the house. I roll the foot heel to toe and this seems to work good. I can also get up and down the stairs now with using the ATR foot but i still support 90% of the weight with the crutches. I have peeled one strip of the heel insert so far to lower the angle but so far I have not had any pain.
The highlight of the week for me was showering. It was the first time in a month that i could take a shower with out me having a cast cover on or with my leg sticking out of the shower cubicle. I still use a stool to sit on in the shower as I am not confident of standing on one leg for too long. I sat in the shower for over 10 minutes the first time and it was bliss, to feel the water running around my ATR leg and ankle was really refreshing.
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hiya- its abbavick- left you a bloggy update reply thingy on your about me page- im not red hot on blogging ! will have a
it sussed soon . X
hiya- wondering if anyone in uk just watched the show about the air rescue ambulance & saw the guy injured in the motor bike crash- made me stop & think , he will never walk again, feeling quite fortunate just now all things considered.
Hi there-love this blog! have been in the dark for 5 weeks just trying to stay positive.Now its great to find all this info
have 70% rupture of left achilles,happened during a gentle jog on the beach no operation required apparently-have been in cast for 5 weeks and now in velcro boot with inserts. I am finding this painful! My foot has also swollen badly but goes down again at night. I just cant see an end to all this-supposedly will be able to weight bear after two weeks in the boot. I just cant see this happening-also have a guaranteed place in london marathon in april-I am trying to stay focussed and positive but very hard at times!!
Marathonrunner, you should start a blog and give us your whole story, and all in one place. (This page has been asleep for almost two years!)
We don’t have many people here who state so confidently that they have a 70% ATR, or any other specific number. Is that based on UltraSound, or MRI, or both, or neither? I had THREE Ultrasounds soon after my latest (second) ATR — incidental to 3 weekly “PRP” injections — and the Doc and Tech reported 3 different version of my ATR to me! First it was complete, then it was partial, then it was partial and multiple! It undermined my faith in the precision of Ultrasound analysis a bit. . .
And I already had a jaundiced view of precision of MRI analysis from a serious situation with my 95-year-old Dad’s back: He developed a nearly crippling backache. An MRI of his spine showed a huge shadow — apparently a massive infection — threatening to engulf and invade his spinal chord. About half of his medical team recommended urgent invasive surgery. He got massive intravenous doses of Pennycillin.
A month later, a second MRI showed that everything had gotten significantly worse. Another month later, a third MRI showed that everything had AGAIN gotten significantly worse — and my Dad checked out of the hospital, because his back had stopped hurting him. And it never bothered him again, in his 3 remaining years of generally good health, until he died at 98. But those MRI exams almost did a LOT more damage than his backache!
Back to your partial ATR: 5 weeks of NWB, on crutches, is generally a lot, and probably more than is optimal. The best non-op results I think I’ve seen reported are from a recent study done at U. of W. Ontario (”UWO”), and they apparently followed the protocol they faxed to my surgeon, which I’ve posted here at bit.ly/UWOProtocol . It calls for only 2 weeks of NWB, then 2 more weeks of PWB, followed by “WB As Tolerated” starting at 4 weeks.
There should be no harm in “rehearsing” the “moves” of walking, by resting your boot on the ground as you walk. If that’s comfortable, you could begin transferring partial weight to it.
Can you figure out why the boot is so painful? And is it really more painful than the cast was (and if so, why?)? Many of us had pain on the bottom of our healing foot (heel, esp.) when beginning to bear weight again, but it sounds like you’re not there yet.
Are you elevating and icing to control the swelling?
This, too, shall pass. Not all of us are running marathons at 8 months by any means, but some are, and almost all feel the injury is largely behind them by then.
Good luck, and good healing!
I am getting my hard cast off this coming thursday (jan 3) and the thought of a shower, the story you posted, the mere prospect of washing my leg is making me so excited. I had a full atr on december 1, 2012, while playing soccer.