hashish’s AchillesBlog

So I am out of my boot officially on Tuesday and I had my first PT session on Thursday. I wore an ankle Brace on Tuesday and Wednesday because I was worried about the bus ride, but I have been doing all right walking around lately.

It is hard walking. I have a serious hitch in my gait (hence the pimp walk). I can walk on my tip toes with my right foot. It’s so weird, when I try to step with my fore foot its like the mechanism to hold me up is missing. It is so hard to push off with my toes to walk with a proper gait. Any my ankle is still real thick and swollen. My achilles is real thick too.

My PT was pretty easy, mostly hip and trunk exercises and a little ankle stuff. I have a long recovery outlook, which my PT was happy to hear. I told her I expect close to a year for full recovery and 6 months till i’m doing anything somewhat strenuous. My PT warned me to not stretch it too much, which I totally understand. As you stretch you create micro-tears which will be filled as it heals. This is will lead to a tendon that is too long.

I do plan to be very discipline with my exercises, as I did with my shoulder and knee rehabs in the past (which both healed wonderfully so far). I do have a TENS unit which I will use to keep the blood flowing down there and luckily we have an indoor pool in my building so I will be doing a lot of stuff in there. Stationary bike is also our friend, so I will get a healthy dose of that.

So I have one more week with the boot according to my doctor. I’m not sure what to expect from then on. Will I be walking with a boot and with crutches, no boot + no crutches, use an ankle splint?

I know I shouldn’t, but I have just started walking around the apartment without my boot for short distances and sleeping without my boot. Basically I can walk but I am keeping my ankle immobilized as if it were in the boot. The pad of my foot is tender and soft. I don’t fully trust my ankle yet but I know that will come with PT exercises. I am just wondering how I should manage my daily bus commute with a week ankle until it gets strong. I imagine I will be using crutches without the boot for partial weight bearing to build up the ankle strength. I wouldn’t mind wearing an ankle splint because as we all know, crutches are a pain.

I cannot weight to get into the pool and start swimming. I have also bolstered my fruit intake to help promote healing and improve elasticity in my muscles and tendons/ligaments. I don’t want to endure this ever again in my life.