There won’t be any definitive answers here as we can only speak from our personal experiences with the injury. We do not give medical advice, so please consult your physician.
Here’s the Disclaimer.

This is a compilation of some of the questions that have been raised on the site. This list is still a work in progress, and we’ll be pointing you to the relevant posts and comments by fellow Achilles Bloggers to make your search a bit easier. (If there is no link next to the question, then please ask someone, or you’ll have to read through the posts/comments on the site.)

As a side note, this list wasn’t created to dissuade you to ask questions (even the ones on this list). Don’t hesitate to ask! We have a very active community so someone will most likely share their experiences with you.

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If you are looking for answers to specific questions, the new site-wide Google search on the top right of the main site should make it easier to search the entire AchillesBlog.com

This will search all the blogs, all the posts, and all the comments on AchillesBlog.

I tried typing in things like “insole”, “quote”, “supplements”, “aspirin”, “dance”, “insurance”, and it works well.

I’ve noticed that the search is more effective if you click: repeat the search with the omitted results included at the bottom of the page (once Google returns you the results).

This is because the content on the website is constantly being updated, and Google’s copy of AchillesBlog gets out-of-date. So it sometimes points you to an old address.
Good thing is that Google will return you many results for the same phrase, and one of them will point to the right page. So just keep looking.

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If you want to add questions or references to this list, please add a comment to this page, and I’ll periodically update this page.

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Achilles Rupture

1. Should I go to the Emergency Room or instead go see my doctor (or an orthopedic surgeon) as soon as possible? Dennis’s post
2. I don’t have health insurance. What should I do? Read Jim’s comments
3. Do you think somebody kicked me and caused this injury?
4. Surgery or conservative Treatment?
5. How do I find a good surgeon?
6. How much will the total medical cost be (whether I cover the cost or the insurance company does) if I have surgery? Tom’s Post
7. What do those acronyms (ATR, NWB, PWB, FWB, ROM, WTF) mean?
   1. ATR - Achilles Tendon Rupture
   2. NWB - Non Weight Bearing
   3. PWB - Partial Weight Bearing
   4. FWB - Full Weight Bearing
   5. ROM - Range of Motion
   6. WTF - It’s what I screamed when I ruptured my Achilles..

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Getting Ready for Surgery (If you’ve chosen to go the Surgery Route)

1. General Anesthesia or no?
2. What are some of the complications that I should keep in mind (complications are for the most part, rare.. but you should be aware of them.)?
3. How long will the surgery be?

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Post-op to 4 weeks

1. I just had surgery on my Achilles, and I am in a (cast/splint) what is the most comfortable position for sleeping?
2. When I stand up, I feel a rush of blood to the foot and my foot turns purple. Is this normal?
3. When walking with crutches, and I tried to catch myself from falling, and I accidentally put weight on my cast leg. It was painful, but the pain went away. Do you think I did any damage to my repaired Achilles tendon?
4. I feel excruciating pain in my calf, is this normal?
5. My incision wound hasn’t healed right, it’s still tender after several weeks. Is this normal?
6. I can’t sleep. Is it the pain killers? What should I do?
7. My cast feels too tight, it’s uncomfortable. Is this normal?
8. My cast feels really too tight. The pain is excruciating, and I can’t feel my toes! Should I go see the doctor?
9. I get painful leg cramps (thigh or calf in either leg). What should I do?
10. How do you use crutches? Some info here: How-to user crutches.
11. Involuntary muscle spasms at night. (or when you “kick”, when sleeping) do any sort of damage to the tendon? They are painful for a few minutes.
12. How do you feel about Early Weight Bearing recovery protocol?

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Questions to consider asking your Physician during a Post-op visit

1. How badly was my Achilles tendon damaged?
2. When can I start partial weight bearing? How much weight?
3. When can I start full weight bearing?
4. Can I take my boot off at night when sleeping?
5. When can I start exercising again? And what type of exercises can I do?
6. When can I start Physical Therapy?
7. Can I drive my car? If not, when can I start?
8. How long do I have to elevate my leg throughout the day?
9. When can I stop elevating my leg?
10. Should I take aspirin every day in case there may be a blood clot? If so, when should I stop?
11. When can I start taking baths?
12. Should I take any supplements or vitamins?
13. At what point is infection not so much of an issue?
14. At what point are blood clots not so much an issue?
15. How do you feel about Early Weight Bearing recovery protocol?
16. Can I get a copy of the operative report? (only if you are curious)

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Physical Therapy

1. Is physical therapy necessary?
2. When should I start physical therapy?
3. Does physical therapy really help?
4. Can you rupture your Achilles Tendon during physical therapy?

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Therapeutic Massage

1. Is Therapeutic Massage helpful? eriedutchgirl
2. What is the difference between Therapeutic Massage and Sports Massage? eriedutchgirl’s comments

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Scar Healing

1. Will my scar from the surgery go away?
2. Information about scarring: jenni’s comments (dermatology nurse)
3. What can I do to reduce scarring from the surgery? Dennis’s posts and comments

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Tendons and Ligaments

1. What is the definition of a tendon / what is the definition of a ligament?
2. Why do we commonly say tendon ruptures and ligament tears?
3. Whay is the recovery & rehab period so much longer for a tendon than it is for a ligament?

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AchillesBlog Site Related questions

1. How did this site start?
   • How AchillesBlog.com started.
2. Can I use the information I’ve found here in place of my doctor’s advice? No, please follow your physician’s advice!
3. I ruptured my Achilles, why should I blog about it?
4. I justed created a blog. It says that it’s created. What do I do now?
   • Go to your blog and read the first post that’s automatically created. There are some instructions there. If you have more questions after that, feel free to add a comment anywhere on the site, and someone from the AchillesBlog community will help you.
5. How do I start posting my experiences on my blog?
6. How do I set up the Achilles Timeline widget?
   • Setting up Achilles Timeline Widget
7. How do I set up the Achilles NYC marathon Widget?
   • Setting up the Achilles NYC marathon Widget
8. I don’t see “ATR Timeline” widget in the available widgets list. Where is it?
   • If your blog was created before Aug. 7th 2008, you have to activate the widget first from the Plugins page. The Plugins Page can be found on the upper-right side of your blog’s command console.  Otherwise, you should see it in the list of widgets.  If not, then let me know, and I’ll take a look.
9. I’d like to get my information shown on the “If ATR recovery was a NYC marathon..” page. How?
   • You have to fill our your Achilles Profile. If you don’t want to start a blog, but want your information added to the Community Achilles Recovery Progress Tracker, please see the instructions here: Adding your info to the Community Achilles Recovery Progress Tracker without creating a blog.
10. How do I upload my pictures on the blog?
    • From your command console (where you write your posts), go to the post (or a page) that you want upload the picture to.
    • In the Write Post page, click on the gray star just to the right of “Add media”
    • You should see a pop-up menu, click on: [Choose files to upload] button.
    • Window should pop up and you can browse your computer for the picture to upload.
    • After that, select the picture that you want to upload, and follow the directions..
    • If you have questions, ask via comments on this page, and I (or someone else) will be able to help you.
11. I’d like to edit my comments. How do I do it?
12. I’d like to be able to see site-wide comments on my blog, is this possible?
13. Great site, I’d like to help, what can I do?
    • Cheer on other people’s recovery. Please read and leave positive comments on the blogs. It really helps getting supports this way.
    • Share what you learned about Achilles Tendon Rupture recovery on your pages so that others can benefit from it too.
    • You can help organize the content on the main site.
    • You can let me know if there are things that don’t work on the site, or any feedback on what can be improved on the site.
    • If you are a web designer, you can create a WP Theme for us!
    • If you are a web developer, you can help with the development on the site. (in PHP/javascript)
    • If you have access to medical journals and papers about Achilles, you can e-mail them to me, and I’ll post it on this site.
    • If you are knowledgeable about T-shirt printing, and want to help with AchillesBlog T-shirts, please let me know.