No Norm for this Injury

Posted on October 19th, 2009 by joe354

By going through this injury and reading everyone’s experiences I’m starting to realize more and more there is no norm for returning to normal with this injury. Some things depend on how agressive your doctor is, how fast you heal your age. Some people have have pain and other do not.  I think the best advise I’ve gotten is just to listen to your body. My doctor tells me to take it one step further than you think you can and thats worked pretty well for me. I’m now 12 week post op and have been walking in two shoes now for a few weeks. Now stuggling with trying to walk without a limp. The most frustrating part of this injury is you want so bad to return to normal but it takes time and patience. I guess I’m writting this because I was going to ask for experiences in how long it takes for the tightness to go away in the tendon when walking and to get rid of the limp. But my guess is I’m going to get a broad range of answers….

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Need Some Reassurance

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 by joe354

Well tomorrow will be week 8 for me. I honestly feel like I’m way ahead of the game compared to some others I read about here. I’ve been FWB since week 5. I still have swelling mostly in the evening if I’ve done to much during the day. It seems to get better and better as time goes on. The biggest change I’ve noticed this last week is that my foot feels more secure when out of the boot and moving it around. This past week I’ve also been able to walk without the boot mainly in the mornings taking a shower. This is actually more like a shuffle as I keep my foot at 90deg while moving around. My concern is that while standing in the shower, shuffling around and also while stretching my achilles a bit as instructed by my PT with a towel around my foot and pulling back…I can really feel my achilles stretching. It doesn’t hurt at all. I don’t really know how to explain it but is this normal? Will this go away when I go to two shoes? When I first started PT it was all just real tight and when I would go through the motions I really didn’t feel anything as it was just tight and probably still numb in that area. But now I can feel more the tendon stretching I guess. When I’m in my boot it all feels normal for the most part. So just looking for what others are feeling back there that have gone through this already or are going through this now…

Thanks
Joe

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Hello world!

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by joe354

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  • Recent Comments

  • sam66 | October 19th, 2009 | 12:26 pm

    I find I can walk almost without a limp if I go VERY slowly, stand very upright concentrating on equal weight distribution and don’t take too big a step. Sounds complicated but it works. As soon as I try any speed (without crutches) I develop a limp, or if I’ve been on my feet for a while and am getting tired.
    Improving all the time, very slowly.
    Again some of it is to do with weakened calf muscle and knee.
    Nice long stretches are helping with my tightneess plus toe-tapping whilst seated.

  • 2ndtimer | October 19th, 2009 | 12:03 pm

    Did you have surgery?

    After conservative treatment I had an issue with pain and tightness in the tendon. It never went away - until I re-ruptured.
    Now I am at week 15 after surgery, 3 weeks in 2 shoes, and I do not feel the tendon stretching, however my calf is so weak that causes me to have a slight limp. And I suspect that will last long for me. I have to work on my calf and that gets sore, but not the tendon.
    I see big improvement in the flexibility as the days go by.

  • dsut4392 | September 24th, 2009 | 9:00 pm

    Yes, sounds normal. My first few days in 2-shoes mine was quite tight as well, made it difficult walking up steep hills, and had to walk with a shortened stride (can’t leave the bad foot behind as the ankle won’t ben that far). But it got better quickly and I’m nearly up to full ROM now (a bit over 15 degrees dorsiflexion for me) 5 weeks later. Still feels a little tight sometimes, bu tthe main limitation is calf strength.
    Dylan

  • samm6 | September 23rd, 2009 | 2:03 am

    Hi Joe,
    I’m just a couple of weeks out of 9 weeks in cast and still doing lots of stretching exercises which I can definitely feel pulling on the tendon, not painfully, but there is still a lot of resistance in it.
    My physio has said to hold the stretches for 30seconds to a minute so the tendon learns to extend again, but never to overextend or push it too far.
    Good luck,
    Sam

  • tomtom | September 22nd, 2009 | 3:09 pm

    Joe - The stretching you describe sounds normal and you will probably feel that for quite a while. The tendon has been at its shortest length while you’ve been casted and in the boot. It takes time to stretch the tendon back to its normal length. I wouldn’t be too concerned unless you are starting to feel pain in the tendon.

  • Mr WordPress | September 2nd, 2009 | 2:49 pm

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