ejbvmi’s non-op AchillesBlog

17OCT15- R+19 weeks, non-op, early weight bearing protocol

Full disclosure: My gait still isn’t quite back to “normal”.  After walking a few miles, my heel still starts to hurt and I develop a more noticeable limp.  When walking down stairs, I still roll my injured/trailing foot off the step a bit, so I am still not symmetrical there.  The calf still needs work, and I still can’t do a single-leg heel raise.

Having said all that: life is really good right now.  We just took a week long vacation that saw me log an average of 12,000 steps per day, including one day of 19,000 steps… and the AT was good to go.  It was never sore at all, which seems like a spectacular statement considering where I was just a few months ago.

By the end of the vacation week, my calf was noticeably stronger and I was getting more push off from it.  This was a reminder that I have been neglecting my exercises lately.  I was super-diligent about exercises during the first 8 weeks, but once I started driving again and returned to work and travel, I allowed life to get in the way.  The result of that neglect is that I have probably progressed slower than I could have.  I live on the second floor of our building, so now I make a habit of doing 50 heel raises on the stairs each time I go up or down.  My calf is on fire… but that is a good thing, since the AT is still solid and pain-free.

Happy healing, everyone!