Jul 28 2008
Cleared to jog-ish
Saw the doc today–at 15wks 5 days post-op. Came in armed with my PT’s recommendation and all intention of forcing him to let me start jogging. My PT wants me to jog 1 min, walk 3, jog 1, walk 3, etc, slowly increasing the jog-to-walk ratio until I’m jogging 20 min straight. Doctor seemed reluctant at first. Had to correct the doc–no, it’s been more than 12 weeks. It’s been 16. “Ah, ur, um…” By the end he pretty much signed me off to my Pt and whatever he wants me to do.
Which is how it SHOULD be! I don’t know about the rest of you, but my doctor was great at the diagnosis and the surgery, but it’s my PT who really knows where i am in my recovery and what I’m capable of. He’s the person I have my dialogue with, who I feel is my sounding board and evaluator. Of course, if I didn’t like my PT so much and feel we had a real meeting of the minds, I might not feel this way. So I feel that i”m in good hands.
I also know that orthopaedists are often paid by the service. That is to say, they get X number of dollars to diagnose, perform, and post-op an achilles tendon surgery. Odds are that they have already been paid the full amount by the time I’m coming back for post-op evaluations. That sure doesn’t give him much incentive to keep a keen eye on my recovery. Just an unfortunate side-effect of insurance systems, I guess. My PT gets paid for every one of my visits, so it’s in his interest to come up with new and useful excercises for me. Anyway, I think this is good information for patients. Be sure that you go into your doc appointments educated and focused. Bring your questions and demands and make them explain to you why and why not. Just my two cents for the day.
More importantly–Jogging for the first time tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes!!
4 responses so far
Great Job Erie!! Thanks for the good advice.
You go girl. Enjoy your jog! I wanna go to PT too. Take me with you.
Enjoy your work out!
Hi! You don’t limp when walking? Or to put it another way you don’t feel pain when you walk, by example going downstairs? I say take it easy with jogging. When I jog I feel next day a pain on the whole lower leg because of the shorter tendon. But be careful your tendon rupture is not healed in 16 weeks. Don’t stress it for your sake.
Nice….we are at like the same spot in our recoveries. I am 16 weeks post op today and according to my rehab protocol, I can start jogging today. I’m going to hold off on it for now. I have been out of my PT’s care for about four weeks now, so good to know how to start my jogging. With the walk 3 and jog 1 method.
~ciao