Achilles Tendon Rupture Recovery

I was curious about our Google search rankings, and I typed in: “achilles tendon rupture recovery blog”
And guess what? We are ranked #1.

Other permutations of the subsets of those words do get us in the top 3 Google pages, but I am happy to say that when the key words “recovery” and “blog” are thrown in, we have the top ranking!

What does this mean? It just means that people who are looking for fellow ATR recovery folks will easily find us. And that’s a good thing.

Hope all your recovery is going well, and feel free to shout if you have any comments or suggestions.

Here are some pictures of my scar at almost 13 weeks after my surgery. I am not quite happy with the amount of scarring that’s developed on my heel, and it’s really not going away. The lower part of my incision wound gets dry and it looks even worse.

At my PT’s recommendation, I’ve bought Mederma creme which is supposed to make the scar look better. I don’t know if it actually works, and it was quite expensive: 20g bottle for $20.

I also bought some Eucerin lotion which I’ll apply after I shower on the dry skin. Let’s hope this works!

It looks much worse near the heel. It’s also a bit shiny since I already put Mederma on the scar.

Here’s another shot from a different angle, not much prettier. The vertical thin lines (perpendicular to the main incision) are from the stitches.. wondering if it’s the surgeon, or if it’s the way
my body heals..

From a slight distance.. looks slightly better. The incision seems like it’s a bit curved. I am wondering if the surgeon had one of his students make the cut.. (He also teaches at the medical school.. which I wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.)

A side view of the scar. Notice how the lower part of the scar (actually the entire tendon) protrudes..

A picture of my healthy heel for comparison.

Now side by side. Left heel looks pretty sad in comparison.

Well, I am hoping that the scarring will diminish as time goes by. I am also hoping that the protrusion goes away too.

I just had hopefully my last post-op visit with my surgeon, and it looks like my recovery is going fairly well. He briefly examined my achilles and said that I am doing well, with close to normal ROM.

He said that I am cleared for any exercise except the ones that I love. (Basketball, tennis, volleyball, skiing, running). I’ll have to wait another 3 months for jogging/running, and probably another 4-6 for the rest on that list.

I asked about soreness, and he said that it’s normal, and that my tendon is still healing even though I may not see much measurable progress.

He said that I am through the time frame where re-rupture is a concern, but was still advised to be cautious. Rate of re-rupture is about 2%.

Adhesion isn’t much of a concern as I have good ROM and was told that it’ll get better. He said that my tendon will gradually get a bit slimmer, but not to the original thickness.

I am still walking with a limp with varying degrees of “gimpiness”. I think the normal gait will be possible as I build up more strength in my leg, but I still feel a bit of soreness if I exert myself too much or walk too much. Walking slowly is the key.

I am aware of the fact that improvements will be a lot more gradual from now on, so I’ve been patient, and I am comfortable with my slowing progress.

Before seeing the surgeon, I paid my portion of the medical bill as my insurance does not cover 100% of my medical care.

My cost (so far) has been: $632.27

I asked the cashier about people without insurance, and she said that if you don’t have insurance, you automatically get 57% off (my insurance company was getting around 56 - 70% discount on various charges).
On top of that, if you qualify for certain programs, then there are other discounted rates and they are willing to work with you.

I am not sure if this is the case with all other hospitals, but it seemed more reasonable than I had imagined it would be if you didn’t have insurance. Of course, this is just what they said, and I haven’t gone through that route myself.. so who knows?

Glad to see everyone progressing through this recovery. We’ll all be resuming our favorite activities eventually.

In the mean time, I plan to pick up other hobbies.. Maybe becoming a better swimmer and a bicycler so that I can think about competing in triathlons at some point.

I’ve thought about designing/printing AchillesBlog t-shirts. (maybe for special milestones like the 2-shoes club)
www.zazzle.com makes things convenient as they print the t-shirts as people order them through their website, but they are expensive. It’ll be around $20-$30 per t-shirt.

If I really look around and buy them in bulk, I think t-shirts can be purchased for $15 or so. If anyone has experience in this arena, please let me know.

Also, what’s the level of interest in the t-shirts? If there are no mention of them in the comments, then I’ll take it as “no interest”

My doctor recommended that I start my physical therapy at the week 6 mark, but I started at week 7 due to some paperwork issues with my insurance.

I have been going to PT about twice a week, and overall I think it’s been very helpful in my recovery.

Here’s my post regarding my first PT session: The First Physical Therapy Session

The PT sessions since then have been following a general pattern of:
Warm up on the exercise bike for 10 minutes
Walking on the treadmill for 5-10 minutes while the PT monitors my walking form.
Sitting toe raises (3 sets of 10)
Standing on wobble board for 10 seconds (3 times)
Balancing on one leg for 10 seconds (3 times)
Most of the exercises described in my first PT session post
Massage
Ice with electric stimulation

Over the past couple of weeks, the exercises have been getting more challenging, being careful to never do more than what I felt comfortable with. I’ve read that re-ruptures do happen during physical therapy sessions in rare occasions, so I don’t want that happening to me.

I am going from sitting toe raises with no weight to 10-20 lbs of weight on the knee.

Also, standing toe raises with both legs on the ground have been added to the program, with a lot of the weight being borne on the healthy leg and slowly shifting weight towards my recovering leg as I get more comfortable with the exercise.

Starting week 9, I have been doing the “crab walk” with the resistance band around my ankles. It is supposed to build up my hip muscles.

After the first PT session, I switched to another PT who was closer to where I had lived. She was also very good, but she was busy a lot of the times, and I ended up doing most of the exercises with the assistants who were not as helpful or as well informed as the PT.

I even switched the sessions to during the times where they were not as busy, but I still wasn’t getting much face time with the actual physical therapist.

Having been annoyed with the sub-par assistants and the busy PT, I am now back to my first PT who does spend more time with me. Also the assistants are a lot more pleasant to work with. (I don’t get the feeling of being talked down to, with the assistants barking orders at me.)

I was thinking about my Achilles tendon rupture, and I don’t think it was necessary for me to go to the Emergency room.

If I made sure that I didn’t move my foot and stayed in bed the entire weekend until I could make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, I think I would have been fine. I didn’t have much swelling, and I wasn’t in a great deal of pain.

I’ve noticed that some of the people who ruptured their achilles tendon went immediately to the Emergency room.. (like me), and some others just stay put until they could get the earliest appointment with their physician.

What was your experience, and do you think it’s necessary to go to the emergency room?