My Achilles Experience
Posted by dinardalvi on March 19, 2011
I had a rupture on my Achilles tendon (right foot) on Feb 05 playing cricket. Drove back home and went to the doctor on Monday . He said I have a partial rupture and suggested no surgery. He gave me a walking boot. Then when i was talking to one of the parent at my kids school and she told me that her husband had the rupture twice. the first time he did not do the surgery and then he re ruptured again and then he did the surgery. So i got a 2nd opinion and this time the surgeon did the MRI. The rupture was 50% and he suggested that surgery is the option if I have to run and play again. After reading a lot i decided to do a surgery and I had my surgery on Feb 24 2011. On Mar 7 they removed the stitches and now I am wearing the CAM Boot with a 10deg angle. Mar 21 is the time the boot comes to the Zero Deg and the Physio begins.
I started to have some tinglings/pinching in the area where the surgery was done on March 12 and it was really uncomfortable. I called the doctor ad the nurse told me that it is normal as the nerves are recovering. After that day there are no tinglings etc. Now i can move my ankle to the ground level. It does not hurt at all. I still have to use the crutches till i am allowed to be full load bearing.
I was also told that the physio hurts but i am all ready to start to walk. I am really bored sitting in one place.
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Good luck with your recovery. I had alot of pins and needles feelings even after I was out of the cast. When I went to the boot the “feelings” prevented FWB at first. I was told it is the area waking back up again and eventually all that went away.
PT was the best thing that happened to me..Make sure you post your experience with the PT as there are a lot of knowledgable people here that can give you some input. Take it easy and keep us posted!
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:43 pm
thanks, i talked with the PT yesterday and she gave me lots of passive exercises. She also said that my ankle has extraordinary movement.
I was told by my doctor that in 2 weeks i can walk without crutches using the boot. And then on April 18 he will make the decision if I can ditch the boot and use my own shoes. At that time I will get to drive, cannot wait till April 18. talking one day at a time.
March 26th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
First week of PT and my swelling has gone down 10cm. The ankle movement is improved 10%. The nurse at the surgeons office told me that I can start to walk with the crutches and slowly drop them. When I try walking with a little weight on the ankle the ankle hurts but the Achilles and the calf are fine. Doing lots of exercises (all passive) to improve the strength. Ohh and also lots of leg raises to get the swelling down. I am thinking walking without the crutches by Apr 2 is a long shot. I was told by the nurse to bring a pair of regular shoes for the next surgeon visit.
March 27th, 2011 at 11:03 am
I found that my achilles rarely “hurt” it was all the surrounding tissue from surgery and immobilization.I’ll bet you can make your goal by April 1. That will be a little over 7 weeks,right? (set up the widget so we can keep track of your progress) Those exercises restrengthen all those muscles that have not been used for a while and make the walking easier! Elevate and ice!
March 27th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Today i tried to walk by giving more load on the feet using crutches only when needed. Could do one step and I was very happy. It really seems like a baby talking his or her first steps. The ankle does hurt a little i guess as I have not walked for so long it will take time for the muscles to be strong. During this my Achilles does not hurt at all.
March 27th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
I am just ahead of you on the journey. I was able to put weight on the AT leg at 6 wks and gingerly walked using crutches…it only took a couple of days and I bravely walked without crutches with the boot on. One of the agents at the office did say it was like watching a baby take their first steps and told me we should take a picture. I had a week walking with boot and then walked into my PT’s office wearing two shoes. I was slow and awkward but what a feeling!! Word of warning….I found it hurt quite a bit to put on my shoe the first time but my excitement at wearing two shoes overrode the pain.
hang in there!!!
March 27th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
WOW walking with boot on at 6 weeks is some achievement. I am scared to do that yet but in few days once my confidence is back I will try that. BTW the 2 shoes is planned for April 18 for now and I don’t want to take the risk of getting into them earlier. Maybe it is just me. Will see what the PT has to say on the walking progress on Tuesday. My only concern is that if I go out of the house with the boot on then I do not want to use the same boot in the bed as I am still advised to sleep with the boot on. I wonder what others have done for this one?
March 27th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
You’ll be amazed at how quickly your confidence does come back…one of the things my PT told me is that the hardest part is trusting the AT leg and I find that to be true….I am cautiously trying new things. I was completely NWB for 6 weeks and couldn’t believe it when my surgeon then told me…it was ok to put weight on the AT leg….I was like “well how the heck do you do that?”… that was on a Friday…I couldn’t wait to see my PT on the Monday so I sort of figured out the walking thing in my own home. I went down the stairs on my butt the whole time because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to do the stairs.
I had the boot on at 3 weeks and had to sleep with the darn thing….wasn’t sleeping well at all so after a week I ditched it for sleeping and just left the liner on so I didn’t have the problem of a dirty boot in bed. April 18th is coming up so hang in there.
April 1st, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Well on March 31 I tried to go full weight using the cast shoe and I was able to do so. I can now walk without crutches and i feel so good about my self. Now the PT has given me another range of exercises like stand on both feet (bare) holding the counter top. Then try to put weight on the AT foot. I am able to do this too. Then she asked me to see if I can balance with one foot (AT) and i tried that today April 1 and was able to do this by gently resting my hands on the counter top. She gave me a big rubber band and has given me the push exercises. Over all I am very very happy right now. So one milestone completed. Next one is 2 shoes.
April 1st, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Glad your rehab is coming along! FWB is a huge breakthrough, maybe the biggest of all of them (even bigger than 2 shoes, IMO).
The results with non-op and traditional slow (”conservative”) protocols was not great. Too-high re-rupture rates, for one. The results with the newest much faster protocols is much better — either identical to post-op results, or pretty close.
Your rehab could be speeded up, too, post-op, to conform to the best new studies. E.g., look at bit.ly/UWOProtocol (the study itself is posted here, linked from the “studies” page that’s listed on the Main Page). I wouldn’t jump abruptly to that schedule, but I would “phase” gradually up to its speed.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Finally after today’s DR visit he said it is fine to be in my own shoes and I can drive. He also said that I need to be very careful for next 4 months and strengthen the tendon a lot. It is definitely a great feeling to be in own shoes. For today I drove the car for few miles and it felt great. Walking is with limp and my daughter says I walk like a duck ha ha ha.
Well more to come as the months progress.
February 18th, 2012 at 11:53 pm
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