Nine months postop
Hi all,
Friday the 13th in February was the day of my surgery. Things are going very well now. There is still that trace of stiffness for the first few steps upon awakening in the morning. When I jump up and down on my injured foot, keeping the heel off the ground, it gets a little achy after about five jumps. So, I exercise by alternating feet, jumping off one foot, then the other, sort of a bouncy running in place, and there is no ache that way.
My other, more stubborn injury is getting better, too, although much more slowly. The arthitis in my neck was made much worse by a bicycle accident three years ago. My neck extension is pretty limited since then. I can’t look straight up when standing without bending my waist backwards a little. The past few months, I have been able to do some stretching of my neck without pinching the nerves, but I have made only a tiny amount of progress in my flexibility. I can go for days now without taking Aleve and stay comfortable. That ’s a nice improvement. I can take Aleve and Tylenol and ride my bike for about 60 miles before my neck gets too sore, a big improvement over about 30 miles earlier this year. Maybe someday I can get my neck healthy again, too.
Hang in there everybody, it gets better,
Doug
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Hey Doug,
Just wanted to say thanks for all the useful info you have put up here. I’m in my second week post op and was advised to keep my leg in a boot for the next 6 weeks with NWB and slight ankle exercising only. After reading about your recovery and numerous early vs old school mobilization techniques I decided to get things moving at a faster pace. I am happy to report that 2 weeks and 1 day in I am comfortable walking in the boot with (no crutches) outdoors and without the boot indoors. Still fairly tight and limited ROM but getting better every day. Best wishes in the new year !
Hi Eddie,
That ’s great news, getting about so well so quickly! Of course, being up that early means being very diligent about any potential missteps. I never had a boot, but using it when concentrating on other things, and using the two shoes when your walking and safety have your full attention, is a safe compromise. Inside is not necessarily always safer. It seems many have had scares during nighttime trips to the bathroom, for example, (so remove potential obstacles, leave more lights on than usual?).
Have you tried any easy strength work yet, or tried the vibrating massager idea?
I hope your recovery goes as smoothly as mine did.
Doug
I’m interested in trying the vibrating massager, too. How soon post-op do you think it’s safe to use it? How close to the incision do you get? Do you do the whole leg or just the calf? Appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks.
Hi Mary,
I started the day after my surgery, mainly on the calf, but also on the thigh muscles. I stayed away from the incision. Did it help? Maybe. I just did it because it felt good, and only much later stumbled across some animal research suggesting that it could help lessen muscle atrophy. Would it help if the atrophy is already pretty advanced? That’s even more iffy. I know of no studies looking at that scenario. Unfortunately, that scenario is what is left when we are placed in casts for weeks after surgery.
I hope that helps.
Doug
Hi Doug
Yeah since early on I have been using a foot / calf massage apparatus which is built into a massage chair that I have. I believe that this was the key to early recovery as it stimulates the calf. Also never stopped with upper body exercising, just simple push ups and pull ups. The boot is a really good compromise, as it is fairly safe and helps you control the recovery process especially if you can get one of the fancy ones with flexible ROM increments (something like this http://www.physicalhealthonline.com.au/catalog/detail.cfm?item_id=49366&cat_id=2984)
Hi Doug!
I’ve read and reread your blog for the last couple of weeks, while dealing with
this ATR that I so luckily acquired on Dec. 9th. I had to wait 2 weeks for surgery, which I had on Dec. 23rd. Today, 7 days post-op, my crutches slipped and I fell, and, of course, put some weight on my toes of my ATR foot, which killed my AT for about 2 minutes. I hobbled to the couch, wrapped an ice pack on it, popped 800mg of Ibuprofin, and elevated it. The pain subsided, but now I’m wondering if I did any damage.
My question to you is this: when you did your toe exercises 1-5 days post op and thereafter, did you put your hand on your calf muscle to feel if it was “firing’? Mine is barely firing when I flex my toes up, or point them down. Of course, I didn’t do this before my little accident, so I have nothing to compare it to. It seems to me that if the tendon is correctly attached, even with the calf muscle atrophy, that my calf would react to toe exercises. What do you think?
Oh, I see the doc for my first post-op on Monday (in 4 days), so I just figured that I’d wait till then for him to check it out, rather than go now, because if it’s re-ruptured, I don’t necessarily see how 4 days is going to change anything.
Thanks so much for your blog and your thoughtful responses to everyone here-it truly helps! And, you are a true inspiration.
Btw, I’m a 43 yr. old ex-Olympian, fire fighter, competitive surfer, fanatic for exercise and the outdoors.
Peace!
Hi Betsy,
Most of us have had an accident like that, and very few were reruptures, for what reassurance that offers.
I could tell my calf was working because I could see it twitch. (I didn’t have a cast, I had a removable splint.) I must therefore disagree with what your PT friend said. I had my calf twitching, and soon after that was putting increasing pressure on my fingers with the ball of my foot, so it must be possible.
Be aware that toe movement does not necessarily mean your calf is working. The calf moves the ankle joint, not the toe joints.
After my injury, it actually seemed like it took practice and some concentration just to get my calf to twitch again, and not move just the toes. It was as if I had to learn to use my calf all over again.
Later, when I used my fingers on the ball of my foot to provide resistance, I could feel that pressure between them.
As I’m sure you have gathered, if you have read my blog, I’m a big believer in getting the strength work going as early as possible, to minimize the atrophy and greatly speed up the eventual recovery. I also wonder if that vibrating massager I used early on was beneficial, as suggested by that rat study I referenced..
Good luck,
Doug
Thanks for the reply Doug!
Well, that’s comforting to hear that others have taken a spill with no re-rupture. We’ll see in a couple days what the doc has to say.
I too have the removable splint and I can see some faint calf twitching with toe/ankle movement, but not really in the medial gastroc. My PT friend did say that there would be very little firing if any, but your story sounds like it does/can fire fairly soon after surgery with exercises.
I did order a hand massager and should get it any day and will go to town with that thing!
I’ll try some gradual ankle movements with finger pressure on the ball of my foot tonight and check my calf.
I really appreciate your insight, because I sure hope to be as successful as you.
Happy New Year!!
Cheerz!
Betsy
Doug I am glad to hear that all is going well. We are coming up on a year!!
Hi All,
Quick update: went to doc 12 days post op and everything looked fine. Not much swelling even. They put me in a boot and told me to start PT! They said change only the dorsi flexion angle on the boot once a week, or per pain. The current setup is that I can move from 40 deg. plantar to 30 deg. dorsi. Once that gets easy, I go to 20 deg. dorsi, etc..
The PT (I’ve been twice already) is being very careful since it’s only 2 weeks post op, but we do easy band work (no plantar), circles, alphabet, light massage, then ice and stim.
I sleep with the boot off, which is nice, and I can shower, but no soaking of it yet because the incision isn’t totally healed.
It’s very stiff and feels like it’s going to take forever to get it feeling normal.
Oh, and there is no way that I will be in 2 shoes in 4 weeks like you Doug and some of you out there! I just can’t imagine it.
So, luckily my little fall didn’t cause any damage and I’m on my way!
Cheers to you all!
Betsy
Hi Betsy,
I’m glad to hear your scare was only that. Good luck getting the flexibility and strength back.
Your PT is saying “no plantar,” but you may be doing a little already if you are making circles and letters with your toes.
Once you start working things, you may be surprised how quickly you can progress.
Take good care of that incision. I’m sure you have read here how troublesome a wound infection can be.
Best wishes,
Doug
HI Doug,
Yes, thanks, I’ve been very careful with the incision. I actually did your “silly walk” today around the house without crutches and it felt so good to put weight on my heel! So, you were right again: things are progressing quickly-yippee!!!
Onward,
Betsy
Hi Betsy,
That’s great news! I remember a next thing being going down stairs sideways, keeping that injured foot in front, and hands on the safety railing.
Doug