Jen’s Achilles Blog

First, as I am catching up on reading the blog, I was sad to read that Chip and daveleft re-ruptured. I am so sorry you are both going through it again. Hang in there - I am glad you have this blog for support. One thing I am learning about this injury is that there is no black and white. Between the seemingly large variation in treatment protocols, and everyone’s individual response to healing time, ROM, and activity level - it is hard to know when to be more aggressive with activity, and when to back off and allow more healing time.

It’s been a busy, but good few weeks. I went back to work June 16th for the first time, and wore my boot for the three days, as walking in a shoe was still feeling a bit fragile. After work on the last day that week, I went into a shoe full time, and haven’t looked back since. My second week of work I was on my feet for 7 and a half hours straight for 2 days, and was happy to find out that other than the expected swelling, my foot managed it really well. It feels so good to be back at work.

My first physio session was on the 18th, and I have been 3 times since. We are working on stretches, massaging my thick tight scar, doing ultrasound and finishing with ice and electrical stimulation. The best part was that I have learned how to “walk” again. Before physio, I was walking with a huge limp, with my foot turned out to the side, to help me move faster. I learned quickly that if I continued to walk that way, physio was concerned I would throw my hip and back out of line. So now I am walking very slowly, taking smaller steps, with my toe pointed forward, and even use a cane to help me place my heel on the floor first, then follow through with rolling my foot onto my toes. The cane helps me get over the ball of my foot when my leg starts to get tired. (I hope that makes sense). I am still limping a lot, especially if I don’t concentrate on how I am placing my foot. It sounds like I can expect to have a limp for a few more months.

The best news is that I went back to the gym last week, and have done two sessions of riding on the spin bikes. It was weird to see the running track again, and not hop on it and start running, but it was great to be back on the bike. I was happy to realize that I was able to ride with pressure on my foot, and with no pain or pullling in my achilles. It felt great to get my heart rate up and sweat from something other than moving on crutches! Once I got off the bike, I couldn’t believe how great my ankle felt - I had more ROM than ever. The only thing I found uncomfortable is that once I cooled down, I experienced a definite “rebound” tightness in my ankle and achilles. 

For those of you out there that are waiting to get back into two shoes - it will happen! It’s hard to be patient especially when you are on crutches. Now I am finding I need to be patient with my ROM. Even though I am stretching a lot, my achilles/ankle feels very tight. I am still getting a fair amount of swelling as the day goes on, but it is gradually getting less. I am finding the progress to be slow. But it’s OK - because I am walking! I went out to my first really crowded event last night. My 11 year old daughter wanted to go downtown to watch the fireworks for Canada Day. We watched the amazing fireworks, sang “Oh Canada”, and I was so happy to be with her.

Happy 4th of July coming up for everyone in the US!