No boot all day…
OK, so I’m just puttering around at home, but still! I did go for a half mile walk with two shoes and one crutch - up the hill and back down again. Felt good. I don’t have any strength to actually walk with the bad foot, but I use the crutch to offload the weight so the foot can at least simulate the motion. I have also been doing my ROM exercises, some light rubber band work while I’m also trying to feel some more pressure under the ball of my foot as I walk, not just the heel. Keeping it on the safe side of any pain, though, and trying to keep any swelling at bay.
I have noticed that the five days traveling did wonders for my foot, so motion is good, I just need to err on the side of caution. RyanB’s schedule looks pretty accurate for how I’m progressing. I purposefully didn’t check his schedule the last week so as to not push myself beyond what feels right, but the progress is very similar. I feel like I’ll be ready to ditch the boot at the next visit. In walking in two shoes right now, my thinking is that I need to work on all the stabilizer muscles as well, and am actually more interested in that than actually stressing the tendon much at all. If I go out to do errands, I’ll use the boot for sure. The strength will come, however slowly.
The foot feels good, although definitely a bit tired today. Might try the bike trainer tomorrow, with no resistance. I think I can, I think I can…