Posted on September 18th, 2015 by honeybadger
This was a good week where I saw progress in some areas. I am now able to do an eccentric calf raise holding onto something with only one hand as opposed to two hands. Going down the stairs is still the same as last week and I am still very cautious since I am going down very slowly. I have noticed that when I wake up in the morning I have some stiffness and pain. As the day goes on, the stiffness goes away.
I’m really happy with my balance. I’m able to balance on my repaired leg using a small stability ball. I increased my walking speed on the treadmill to 3.0mph. I feel I could go faster, but, my physical therapist and I are listening to my OS who said he doesn’t want me jogging until the last visit I have with him which is on Oct.29. Here he will give me the green light to push as hard as I can. My PT plans to give me agility tests at around the 5-6 month post-op range to determine if I am ready to return to sports. Soon we’ll start working on addressing deadlift and squat mechanics.
This week I also did something very bold and deadlifted 225lbs and shrugged 225lbs. During the initiation of the deadlift, I didn’t feel any pain, and the weight felt light. I kept it at 225lbs because there is no need to push any further at this stage. A few minutes after and for the remainder of the day, I started to experience pain in the tendon which I attribute to the weight. My PT doesn’t want me deadlifting more than 45lbs just yet.
I purchased a walking resistance strap and belt and used it today. My friend added the resistance and said my repaired side felt stronger than my other leg which I found to be odd. I was leading with the repaired side.
Also, when I go to re-rack the weights at the gym, sometimes I have to walk a little with the weights. Once I’m done re-racking the dumbbells, the speed at which I walk seems to improve.
Lastly, I was curious today at the gym and decided to see if I could pivot. I was able to do it!!! It felt great, however, I was pivoting slowly, methodically, and cautiously.
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Posted on September 15th, 2015 by honeybadger
My physical therapist measured both calves and the difference is 3cm. It is noticeable and means that there is a lot more work that has to be done.
After PT today, I went to do some pool therapy. At PT, I am improving every week when my PT asks me to walk on my toes, however, I’m still not ready to do it. I say this because I was able to walk on my toes in the pool without any issues. I also did single leg calf raises and single leg squats in the pool. I was happy to be able to do this. I think this will aid me in my recovery. I urge those of you who have access to a pool to try it out, you won’t be disappointed.
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Posted on September 11th, 2015 by honeybadger
I’ve noticed a nice increase in strength, endurance, and balance between week 11 and today (start of week 12). For example, although I am still holding onto something when I perform eccentric calf raises, I am able to hold the top position for more time and am able to keep the calf higher than last week. I’m having a hard time seeing size and muscular improvement in the calf itself because I’ve been working on my good calf pretty hard as well and as such the good calf has gained muscle mass.
This week I started walking on the treadmill and focusing on heel strike and push off with the toes. Today I was able to put the treadmill at 2.5 level. It felt good. After I got off the treadmill I noticed my walking on land was faster. I have a feeling this is going to be a good thing for my walking. Another exercise we added in physical therapy was lunges on a bosu ball.
Going downstairs continues to improve. I’m still very careful and take my time. Going up the stairs almost feels like normal.
I tried to do barbell squats (only using the 45lb bar) and it started to hurt the tendon. Oddly enough, I was able to use a 50lb dumbbell to do goblet squats and I didn’t feel any pain. I think the positioning of having the bar on my back instead of in front of me causes the tendon pain.
On a side note, my physical therapists asked me to try toe walking on Tuesday. I was very hesitant and asked him if he was sure, he said yes and then I asked if I can hold onto something and he said yes. Although I made progress, I’m still not ready for toe walking.
I’ll share with you guys my exercises at physical therapy, my home exercise program, warm-up in the gym, leg workout at the gym and the exercises that I plan to use when I begin pool therapy which I haven’t been able to do (hope to start by next week). I’ll post it below:
Physical Therapy Exercises (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
- Treadmill walking
- Monster walks with black theraband around toes
- Wobble board balance on repaired leg, with the toes of the good leg on the floor - done in four directions (front to back, side to side, clockwise and counterclockwise)
- Dumbbell walking and reverse lunges
- Eccentric one legged squat using aerobics stepper
- Single leg romanian deadlift using bodyweight
- One legged legged squat using airex pad
- Lunges using bosu ball
- Eccentric calf raises
- One legged squat using TRX suspension trainer
- Horizontal leg press (bilateral) for quads
- Horizontal leg press (unilateral on repaired leg) for quads
- Horizontal leg press (bilateral) for calf raises
- Horizontal leg press (unilateral) for eccentric calf raises
Home Exercise Program (2x per day)
- Theraband in all four directions
- Ankle pumps
- Alphabet
- Eccentric calf raises
- Single leg RDL
- Single leg mini-squat on two pillows
- Single leg balance on two pillows
- Monster walk
Gym Warm-up (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays)
- Walking on treadmill
- Elliptical
- Monster walks
- Eccentric one legged squat
- Single leg RDL
- Walking and reverse lunges
- Single leg balance for time on small circular pad
- Lunges on bosu ball
- Eccentric calf raises
- Standing weighted calf raises (bilateral)
- Squats - 1 set of 100 reps at the end of my workout
Leg Workout (Saturdays)
- Single leg leg press (only on good leg) for quads
- Single leg leg press (only on good leg) for calf raises
- Goblet squats
- Single leg rear foot elevated split squats
- Leg extensions
- Lying leg curls
- Weighted hyperextensions
- Dumbbell lunges
- Weighted single leg romanian deadlift
- Standing weighted calf raises
Pool Therapy Exercises
- A lot of walking
- Calf raises
- Eccentric calf raises
- Single leg calf raises (if I am able to)
- Toe walking (if I am able to)
- Walking lunges
- Reverse lunges
- Single leg squats
- Single leg balance
- Single leg romanian deadlift
- Squats
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Posted on September 4th, 2015 by honeybadger
In terms of where I am now, I am walking around outside in two shoes. People tell me my gait looks normal. The speed at which I am walking is still slow. I probably walk a little faster this week than last week, but, not a drastic improvement.
Yesterday I had a lot of pain while walking and I attribute this to doing Barbell Deadlifts and Barbell Rows at the gym. I went light and used 155lbs. No pain while doing the exercises but the next day when I was walking to PT, the pain was there and was more than I typically feel. My PT told me that I should only do the bar (45lbs) because 155lbs is still too much weight on the tendon.
The thing about this injury is that you can feel very good and decide to push a little harder with weight and exercise selection and not feel anything but then pain occurs as a result of pushing too much. I am finding out that there is a fine line in this rehab process between rehabbing the right way (working hard without causing unnecessary pain) and pushing too much.
Tomorrow I plan to start water therapy at an indoor swimming pool. I’m excited about this and I’ll keep you guys posted on how this will aid in my progression.
Most of the exercises at PT remain the same as I listed on my 10.5 weeks post. My legs are getting stronger (quads, hamstrings, and calf) since every time I go to PT I can do more weight and reps.
Going upstairs is getting better. Downstairs is still a challenge but last night I felt a slight improvement in terms of mobility going down the flight of stairs.
I can’t wait to reach the point when I can walk without pain and at a normal walking speed as I had before
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Posted on September 1st, 2015 by honeybadger
Today my PT asked me to try walking on my toes. I simply did not have the strength and push off to do it. I tried three times but couldn’t do it and it caused pain. My PT told me to stop and to try eccentric calf raises. I did a few of these and experienced pain as well. I felt very disappointed that I was not able to do toe walking. I was down about this for the rest of the physical therapy session and my PT told me that I am progressing quickly, to look at how far I’ve come in a short time, and that I just need to be patient.
Besides that, I’ve been progressing with different exercises at PT. I’ll share what I’ve been working on both at PT and on my own:
- Elliptical (started today)
- Eccentric squat
- Single leg RDL’s for balance
- DB walking lunges and reverse lunges
- Balance on wobble board with both feet
- Eccentric calf raises
- Assisted bodyweight squats
- Single leg squat using TRX
This week I will start water therapy on my own at a swimming pool. Here are the exercises I plan to do which were approved by my physical therapist
- A lot of walking - focusing on heel to toe
- Calf raises - both legs
- Single leg calf raises
- Walking on toes
- Walking and reverse lunges
- Single leg squats
- Single leg balance
- Single leg RDL
- Squats
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Posted on August 30th, 2015 by honeybadger
Currently 10 weeks post op, this picture was taken at 9 weeks. Does the calf atrophy that I have look normal, too excessive, or not that bad?
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Posted on August 27th, 2015 by honeybadger
Good news and bad news. I’ll start with the good news which is that the surgeon was very happy with the way the tendon looks and I had a negative Thompson test. Doctor said I can start pool therapy exercises.
Bad news is that the surgeon is being overly conservative with the rehab approach until at hit 5 months. By conservative I mean he does not want me jogging until 5 months and he doesn’t want me doing weighted squats until 5 months. Now, I find this odd for a number of reasons. I’ve seen countless videos and read a bunch of stories of people who have jogged at 3-4 months and they were also doing weighted squats around the same time period. Out of all the ATR surgeries that my doctors has performed, he has only had one case of re-rupture and it was a guy that was 4 months post-op. The guy accidentally started running to catch his loose dog and that’s when the re-rupture occurred. I think that is the reason why he is being conservative.
Part of me wants to start light squats and light deadlifts at 3 months post-op (which is 2 weeks away).
Any of you guys have suggestions and recommendations as to how I should proceed and if I should push things a little harder?
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Posted on August 21st, 2015 by honeybadger
Today marks the start of my 9th week post-op. I’ve started to walk outside and at the gym in my sneakers since the early portion of this week at 8 weeks post-op. I take my crutches with me but I haven’t been using them. If my PT found out he would be upset since he wants me to use them in public until next week.
I am still experiencing pain my Achilles tendon when I walk. I noticed that when I perform monster walks with the theraband the pain in the tendon goes away when I walk afterwards. I think the hip and glute activation from the monster walks helps. At PT we added the aerobics stepper to ease my fear of going up and down the stairs since I haven’t done so yet. I rely solely on elevators for now.
I’m still a little impatient about my walking. It is still not normal. My pace is slow and I have to think about each step. My family at home and work out partner at the gym said they see me pausing less, but, the pause is still there. My workout partner at the gym today said my walk looked normal, he just had to concentrate on watching my walking to see the little pause, but, to me I can feel the pause and pain in the tendon when walking. I’m hoping this clears up soon and I can start walking normally again, without thinking about each step, and without pain in the tendon when walking.
As for my calf muscle, I’ve seen some noticeably improvements. I obviously have a long way to go in both calf strength and calf size. At PT, on the leg press I increased how much I am lifting. Yesterday I did 240bs bilaterally and 140lbs on my repaired side. As for balancing, at PT I am balancing on the airex pad for 3 minutes, stopping a few times to catch myself and at home I am doing 3 sets of 30 second holds on flat surface with my eyes closed. It is really hard and yesterday I came close to holding for 30 seconds without having to catch myself.
I’ll make another post next Friday at 10 weeks post-op which is when I see the surgeon. I really want him to give me the green light to start pushing at PT. Ideally, I’d like to start jogging, doing barbell squats and deadlifts at 12 weeks; running and sport specific movements at 16 weeks.
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Posted on August 18th, 2015 by honeybadger
As I mentioned in my introduction, everything is smooth and no swelling. However, this past Friday, I pushed a little too hard at the gym which I was advised not to do yet by my physical therapist because the doctor has not given me the green light yet to push hard. Everything felt fine while I was doing my standing and seated calf raises but when I went home later that night and into Saturday, my Achilles was in pain at a scale of 5 out of 10. Yesterday and today the pain has decreased to a 2 out of 10. I asked my PT about this and he said I put too much weight on my Achilles when I was doing seated calf raises. Since then I’ve gone back to what I have been working on in PT. There is still a slight pause and delay in my walk. It doesn’t feel natural at all.
My PT assures me that once my doctor gives me the green light at the 10 week post-op visit to push it with strength, we will work very hard on strength. He told me I should expect at least 2 hour PT sessions. He’s a former college basketball player, high school football player and certified strength and conditioning coach.
I’ll share with you guys my daily routines.
MONDAYS
Upon waking up
- Theraband in all directions - 3 sets of 30
- Towel curl up - 3 sets of 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 sets of 30
- Alphabet - 3 sets of 30
- Calf resistance exercise (pushing down on my hand with my foot) - 3 sets of 30
- Glute bridges - 3 x 30
- Leg lifts (10lbs) in all directions - 3 x 30
In the Gym
- Stationary bike - 20 minutes
- Balance on one leg for time - 3 sets
- Balance exercise (shifting weight onto repaired leg) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Standing calf raises - 3 x 10 from now on until I see the doctor at 10 weeks post-op. On Friday I did 5 sets of 30 and 10 sets of 50 of weighted seated calf raises. Yeah, what was I thinking? Didn’t feel any pain during the exercise but later that night I did
- Chest and bicep exercises
Before Bed
- Theraband in all directions - 3 sets of 30
- Walking indoors in my apartment floor
- Balance on one leg for time - 3 sets
- Balance exercise (shifting weight onto repaired leg) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Standing calf raises - 3 sets of 10
- Towel curl up - 3 sets of 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 sets of 30
- Alphabet - 3 sets of 30
- Calf resistance exercise (pushing down on my hand with my foot) - 3 sets of 30
- Glute bridges - 3 sets of 30
- Leg lifts (10lbs) in all directions - 3 sets of 30
TUESDAYS
Physical Therapy in the morning
- Stationary bike - 10 minutes
- Leg press (bilateral) - 3 sets of 10. 140lbs used
- Leg press (repaired leg) - 3 sets of 10. 100lbs used
- Leg press calf raises (bilateral) - 3 x 10. 100lbs used
- Leg press calf raises (repaired leg) - 3 x 10. 20lbs used
- Standing calf raises (unsupported) - 3 x 10
- Wobble board (seated) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Balance on one leg using airex pad - 3 minutes. *stop occasionally to catch myself
- Monster walk - 1 set of 5
- PT hands on massage and range of motion table stuff - 10 minutes
- Ice and stim - 10 minutes
In the Evening
- Theraband in all directions - 3 sets of 30
- Walking indoors in my apartment floor
- Balance on one leg for time - 3 sets
- Balance exercise (shifting weight onto repaired leg) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Standing calf raises - 3 sets of 10
- Towel curl up - 3 sets of 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 sets of 30
- Alphabet - 3 sets of 30
- Calf resistance exercise (pushing down on my hand with my foot) - 3 sets of 30
- Glute bridges - 3 sets of 30
- Leg lifts (10lbs) in all directions - 3 sets of 30
Before Bed
- Theraband in all directions - 3 sets of 30
- Walking indoors in my apartment floor
- Balance exercise (shifting weight onto repaired leg) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Towel curl up - 3 sets of 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 sets of 30
- Alphabet - 3 sets of 30
- Calf resistance exercise (pushing down on my hand with my foot) - 3 sets of 30
- Glute bridges - 3 sets of 30
- Leg lifts (10lbs) in all directions - 3 sets of 30
WEDNESDAYS
*Repeat Monday’s exercises, do back and triceps at the gym and the following leg workout in the gym:
- Leg Extensions (unilateral) - 5 sets of 12-20
- Seated Leg Curls (unilateral) - 5 sets of 12-20
- Single Leg Leg Press only on the good leg - 5 sets of 10
- Weighted hyperextensions - 5 x 20
THURSDAYS
* Physical Therapy - repeat Tuesday’s exercises
FRIDAYS
* Repeat Monday’s exercises and do shoulders and forearms at the gym
SATURDAYS
In the Gym
- Stationary bike - 20 minutes
- Standing calf raises - 3 x 10
- Balance on one leg for time - 3 sets
- Balance in all directions shifting weight onto repaired leg - 3 sets of 30
- Single leg calf raises on good leg - 3 x 10
- Leg extensions (unilateral) - 4 x 10
- Leg curls (unilateral) - 4 x 10
- Leg press on good leg - 4 x 10
- Leg press calf raises on good leg - 4 x 10
- Weighted hyperextensions - 4 x 10
- Core circuit for abs - 4 circuits, 20 reps each exercise
In the Evening
- Theraband - 3 x 30
- Towel curl up - 3 x 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 x 30
- Alphabet - 3 x 30
- Calf resistance exercise pushing hand down with foot - 3 x 30
- Leg lifts in all directions - 3 x 30
Before Bed
- Theraband in all directions - 3 sets of 30
- Walking indoors in my apartment floor
- Balance on one leg for time - 3 sets
- Balance exercise (shifting weight onto repaired leg) in all directions - 3 x 30
- Standing calf raises - 3 sets of 10
- Towel curl up - 3 sets of 30
- Ankle pumps - 3 sets of 30
- Alphabet - 3 sets of 30
- Calf resistance exercise (pushing down on my hand with my foot) - 3 sets of 30
- Leg lifts in all directions - 3 sets of 30
SUNDAYS
*Repeat Monday’s exercises
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Posted on August 18th, 2015 by honeybadger
Hey everyone,
I am a 29 year old male, I sustained a full rupture of my right Achilles tendon when I was running while playing basketball. Thus far, my recovery has been smooth. I have full ROM and no swelling. I am hoping to make a full recovery within 6 months post-op. My doctor and physical therapist think I can do it. I also work in law enforcement, therefore, a full recovery is essential.
As for my previous level of activity, I was training and sparring in all aspects of Mixed Martial Arts (Muay Thai, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, and Wrestling). I hope and plan to slowly get back to light training within 6 months. I was also Deadlifting 405lbs prior to this injury. I have a long way to go in this recovery and I’m just crossing my fingers that I can come back better than before. My weight prior to surgery was 185lbs and now I weigh 200lbs. The weight increase is a product of dedicating a lot of time to heavy upper body lifting, no cardio, and massive eating. Once I can start jogging and running, I would like to go back to my comfortable weight which hovers around 185lbs-188lbs, which I think is ideal for my build at 6 feet tall.
Here is a short outline of my recovery. I’ll make a separate post for 8 weeks (which is where I am at today). I want to post every week.
Injury: 6/12/15
Surgery: 6/19/15
Aircast Boot: 7/3/15
First upper body workout at the gym (2 weeks post op): 7/6/15
First day of PT at 3.5 weeks: 7/15/15
Full Weight Bearing at 4 weeks with wedges and crutches: 7/10/15
Barefoot walking inside apartment with crutches at 6.5 weeks: 8/5/15
First time walking with both sneakers on inside apartment and at PT with no crutches at 7 weeks: 7/9/15
Walking outside in public using both sneakers and both crutches: 8/18/15
Lastly, please feel free to offer suggestions, recommendations, and advice. I plan to be an active poster so I’ll be commenting a lot on everyone’s post.
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