one legged calf raise

Posted on May 8th, 2011 by jonathan31

i tore my tendon 1 year and 3 days ago…

i was wondering, I still can’t do a one legged calf raise for the life of me. I sort of abandoned my exercises 3 months ago when my gym membership expired. Perhaps that’s to explain. The inner portion of my calf muscle is still severely atrophied as my good calf is very muscular… comparing the two is just depressing. There’s no muscle to calf raise… running is still pretty much a no go. I have basically no support system so I’m turning to this blog. Any thoughts?

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Finally able to break a sweat!

Posted on January 28th, 2011 by jonathan31

After I’d read a lot of accounts from other people with ATRs, I’d built up this idea that my healing was much slower than others. If my healing was actually slower than other’s, it was likely due to my stubbornness and unwillingness to refrain from over-activity.

It was about the beginning of December that I’d finally been able to walk 5 KM and not feel such soreness than I previously had. (7 months post operation) What a thrill! To venture out into the streets and add a little bit of distance to my walks each passing day - without the post effects like swelling! Then came the 20th of December - back in the operating room - this time for my vasectomy. The beauty was that this time I was rushed in to the OR because there was a cancellation - and so I was in and out so much faster than the ATR surgery. The best part of the operation was that I was kept awake the entire time.. and the drugs were splendid!!! (I’m not advocating drugs as I don’t even use Tylenol for head aches). Healing and swelling passed much faster… but still… I had to refrain from activity for a week. It didn’t help that I was back on my duff again during the Christmas holidays. I quickly found myself shoving the sweets down and gaining weight fast. By new years I was 17 pounds heavier than the day I tore my tendon.

Like many, once 2011 rolled in, I decided to join the gym and take control of my body. Having succeeded in natural bodybuilding only 2 1/2 years prior, it was intimdating to enter those familiar walls as an overweight (by 20-25 pounds) and somewhat handicapped person. The first day there, I decided to try the cross trainer and see how my tendon would take to it since long distance walking was becoming so much more comfortable. After feeling only a few odd sensations, I was happy to say that I got through my first cardio session just fine and most importantly, it was my first exercise-induced SWEAT I’d broken in almost eight months! Woohoo! My heart and lungs were just as thrilled… sort of.

Well, it’s been a month into my diet. I’m down 15 pounds, and I can attack the cross trainer wonderfully. I can go full intensity for the machine’s maximum allowed 1 hour without any discomfort. I’ve also been doing 1 legged calf presses and I’ve gone from pushing 30 lbs. to 125 over the past few weeks. I’m quite certain that had I not joined the gym and pushed myself past these limits that the progress and strengthening of my tendon and calf muscle would be utterly stunted. As for now, I can’t help wonder when I might be able to push out my first standing, 1 legged calf raise. Ah well, no rush for that as it’s not that practical anyways. I think running is the greater goal I’ll place in my sights!

Ah yes! There’s nothing quite like a new season of life!

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More lessons learned in healing

Posted on September 20th, 2010 by jonathan31

So here I am, 4 months and 1 week post operation. What a summer it’s been! And in recent time, it’s been a season of lessons learned. I made light of this 5 weeks ago in my last post. But the importance of rest still hadn’t fully settled in my stubborn mindset despite my claims of over-coming this ignorance. After a few more mistakes made, I’m glad to say I’ve learned how to better manage the fine balance of rest and use of my achilles tendon.

The main point I made in my last post is that we’re all fairly stubborn by nature. Most of us that ruptured our tendon seem to come from active backgrounds. I tore mine while pushing my van, but nonetheless, I pushed it uphill with the thinking that I had superhero superpowers… and this stemmed from my bodybuilding background. In the past two months, I’ve done some stupid things outside of my physio-therapy regimine. Only a short while later, they are things I shake my head at. Taking a 5 mile walk 2 weeks out of my walking cast. Doing 30 minutes every day on a stationary bike. Pushing moderate weight on the leg extension, leg curl and leg press machines. These are things that are completely absent from my daily routine now. It didn’t take long for the reality of my situation to properly set in. It was just difficult because being sedentary, the key to healing, was the total opposite of my former self. And I should have known because the swelling was just awful!! My range of motion was patheti c. But a quick 180 has changed all of that because my heel pains/aches are vanished, I have zero limp, and I can nearly do a complete squat to the floor! Woohoo! Who knew that sitting around could make such great, quick gains! :P

So these days I stick to my physio-therapy’s guidance and exercises. She is my God-send. If I accidentally skip my exercises and go 5 days without doing them, she expresses gladness. It’s opposite to how we’ve been trained in life. But injury rehabilitation in itself goes against the grain from our normal lives. It’s not easy to untrained what we’ve trained before. According to my PT, it’s a lesson she’s happy I’ve learned, and doesn’t see all that frequently in her patients. It goes to show that we are indeed a stubborn bunch.

I’m so thankful I have a desk job. My AT is happy I have a desk job. I have kids and they can keep me busy on my feet. Those are the moments my tendon quickly tells me that my healing journey is far from over. I’m learning to balance rest with activity. It’s an evolving process. I just hope my story can help those just out of their casts that their "sitting around" days are far from over. Impatience can be your worst enemy at this phase. Don’t learn the hard way. You can’t cheat your body’s natural healing process no matter how determined and positive your mindset is!

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Oh, Physio. How I love thee.

Posted on August 12th, 2010 by jonathan31

I kind of like the idea of updating my blog with past information rather than present. I’ve found that there’s more than enough information on this site to help with the usual FAQ’s that pop up throughout the healing process, so I’ve never really felt the need to ask around. I’m more interested in sharing my experiences and the things that I feel are more relevant to newcomers.

One thing I want to put up front is that I’m so humbled and grateful to live in Canada. Thanks to health-care, my surgery was covered. So were two of my casts. Thanks to company benefits, my walking cast and pain killers were covered. With the costs of living, it would have been tremendously difficulty to absorb these costs had it not been for these blessings. I’m just so thankful. What else can I say?

As of today, I am 3 months post surgery. At this point of the process I’ve become increasingly aware at how stubborn we as humans inherently are. In the three weeks before I began physiotherapy, I was walking ridiculous distances, and pushing fairly heavy weight at the gym. My goal at the gym was to regain leg strength so that relearning walking would feel easier. For example, I’d do leg extensions at roughly 20 lbs. and push out 25 reps. Three sets. Over a few weeks I managed to move the weight up to 70 lbs.. I would listen very carefully to my tendon, adjoined muscles and ligaments and I’d stop at even the slightest hint of a twinge or pinch. When I stood up, there was noticeable soreness in in the heel which never lasted more than a few seconds. I never knew exactly how trivial or not this sensation was. I mentioned it to my physiotherapist and she never expressed concern. However, looking back at all of this - I can’t help but ask. Did this improve leg strength and make walking easier? Definitely. Was it absolutely necessary to do so much so soon? Definitely NOT. Throwing in the odd 5KM, even 9KM walk in the mix from day to day wasn’t so smart either. Bodybuilding philosophy teaches you that pain equals gain. It’s not an easy truth to simply toss to the side. But I’m feeling content that I’ve managed to retrain my beliefs for the benefit of this particular season of my life.

Three weeks past from the time my walking cast was removed to the day I received my first physiotherapy session. In that time frame, I was essentially on my own, but oh-so-eager to become normal again. My advice to anyone reading this that’s currently waiting for their 1st PT session: hold off and be patient. You can throw every exercise and stretch at your tendon, but healing and waiting really is the top ingredients that are going to speed your progress up.

I’ve had 3 physiotherapy sessions to date. Since I began I’ve really pulled back on the reigns of my therapy. I no longer attempt to walk every day (4 or 5 km average), but every other day, rather. My allowed exercises are very few and light. My therapist’s initial concern was the great amount of swelling at the ankle due to the shellacking I was putting it through prior. What a difference a week’s worth of easing off has made! Swelling and dis-coloration has been greatly reduced and walking is so much easier as I am much more aware and sensitive to the form of the involved muscles and tendon. At this phase, swelling is quite the enemy! Don’t let yourself think it’s just a natural byproduct of your injury that can be ignored! I’m sure that to many reading this, these tips sound more like common sense. But, if you’re overly determined (most athletes are), it can be seriously challenging to hold back. So, heed my words - exercising every SECOND day and icing the ankle twice daily are key and were the big clinchers in getting my swelling down and the healing sped up.

The big challenge for me now - regain a proper sense of walking form after having doing "the limp" for so many weeks. It’s a current work in progress and I’m almost there. It’s just amazing how much concentration it takes for something I’ve done so many years prior! Crazy!

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Adrenaline can be your friend :)

Posted on July 20th, 2010 by jonathan31

Following up on my 1st post which described my injury and briefly touched on my predicament with work…

Yes, I had a contract with a couple to be wed that I was to be photographing their special day which happened to land 10 days after my ATR surgery. As I quickly discovered the realities of being in crutches, I began to fill with dread at the potential disaster I might have made for myself that unfortunate day I tried (and failed) to appear super-human for my wife and kids. I was amazed at how out of shape I had truly become all because I decided to leave the sport of bodybuilding two years prior and all of the issues I had with it. Balancing on one leg to brush my teeth. Going to the mall with the family. Helping my kids clean up toys on the floor. It all seemed so impossible. How could I photograph an entire 9 hour wedding when it was proportionately so much larger than those simple yet difficult tasks?? Simple… build myself up. In TEN days!

"Honey, want to join us at the mall?" ME: "absolutely!" (words that normally would never escape my mouth)

"Honey, want to go for a walk at the park" ME: "absolutely!"

"Honey, want to head out to the grocery store, costco, and stop at a few other stores?" ME: "absolutely!"

Even when my foot was swelled up to the size of a soft-ball, I was out on my crutches building up my arms. THIS is where my bodybuilding background really came in my handy. As they say in the gym, "muscle has memory". It sure did!

Soon enough I was at the wedding, booting around the church on those crutches like the energizer bunny.  The camera strap would allow for transportation of camera, and the crutches would stabilize me when I’d shoot. They allowed me to become a human tripod!

I did get through the wedding ok. It was the most draining thing I’d ever done. Part of that is due to the adrenaline my body was producing in response to the anxiety for such a demanding and stressful job. The pictures turned out pretty great too!

When the day eventually came when I was appointed to have my cast removed and replaced with a walking air-cast, I was able to travel up to 8 kilometers on crutches at full walking speed. The reception desk thought I was nuts when I showed up covered in sweat for having brought myself to the hospital for my appointment on foot.

Others here attest to the positive experience their injury has been for them. I’m in that group. I’m at the gym every day or other day now doing everything from bike, to hypertrophy weight training for upper body, and strengthening of my quads and hamstrings. I suppose dreams of making it to the stage are no longer, but I think an injury can be a very humbling experience… if building character is what I can work on for the rest of my life, than I’ll take it rather the partaking in a sport that is obsessed with vanity and muscle building.

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One thing I forgot to add…

Posted on July 20th, 2010 by jonathan31

One thing that I forgot to add about my rupture was that there was almost no pain. I suppose many ATR victims on here can attest to this themselves. When I describe to people that ask about my injury, their first response is always, "that must have hurt like a ___!"  I immediately became very light headed. Perhaps that was partly due to not having any calories in my system. But to this day, I’ve yet to actually feel any extended soarness in my tendon. Of course, the incision area from surgery came with some nasty stinging sensation. And there are times I’ll get a twinge of pain that shoots through the tendon for a moment or so. But luckily, that’s all. I’ve not been so lucky with my heel, however, as it has been giving me grief since I began walking on it. Mainly now when I over-due walking or when I first get up out of bed… wonder when that is going to let up since I am now at 10 weeks post op’.

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In the beginning

Posted on July 20th, 2010 by jonathan31

achillesblog.com has been a godsend for me since day 1 of my injury! I just want to say thanks to everyone that contributed their testimony and knowledge of ATR’s.

I was injured May 6th, 2010.

It was only the second day after we brought our newborn, Isabella Kiana Carlson, home from the hospital from being born into the world. We were at Costco shopping, and little did I know, my 3 year old had turned on the ceiling light of our van. Thanks to Walmart having previously found our van battery to be in good working order (falsely) we soon found that the engine wouldn’t turn after returning from our shopping time. The good folks in the Costco auto-department agreed to meet me in the parking lot to help jump-start the battery. The thing is that, initially, I didn’t BACK IN to my parking spot (unusual for me) which made accessing the engine area a problem. So, I put it in neutral, rolled it back, and got out to push and straighten the van out. Sure, I didn’t have to straighten the van out. But I’m a considerate citizen, mindful of other people that would have wanted to be able to still drive through without my van blocking them. So, I got out, pushed and pushed and I was surprised I was having such tremendous difficulty. I’ve pushed it many times before without issue. I have an extensive background in (natural) bodybuilding, so power-lifting was something I did naturally. However, having a three-day old baby in the van, along with a hungry family wanting to get home, I didn’t think to stretch or warm up, or even to just leave the van in it’s place. I wanted to be superman. I did the unthinkable. Attempt to push my van… on an uphill slant. Well, the rest should be fairly imaginable. Next followed the typical popping sound/sensation. I did not fall. I just had a feeling that some good, undo-able damage had been done. Went to the clinic. Bought some crutches. Had the calf-squeeze test for confirmation of the injury. And soon found myself in an emerg’ bed after 8 hours of waiting. As I was lying on my bed, on my belly, having my plaster cast applied, I was surfing the web on my blackberry looking for answers. God knows that the professionals weren’t giving me many. The system here in Canada is quite congested. You get moved through the process as quickly as possible. On that bed is where I 1st stumbled on the achillesblog.com website.

My biggest concern on my mind, at the time, was how would I be able to photograph a wedding I had scheduled the following 10 days after surgery? How would I get through 12 hours of crutch maneuvering? Would I have to cancel and forsake thousands in profit?

I’ll soon write about those eventual experiences and more in a future post.

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Hello world!

Posted on July 19th, 2010 by jonathan31

Welcome to AchillesBlog.com.

This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Following link will take you to your blog’s “command center” where you can write your posts:
http://AchillesBlog.com/jonathan31/wp-admin/

Be sure to fill out your city, Achilles rupture date, surgery date, etc.. (if you know it) here:
Fill out my Achilles Profile Here

When you do, you can keep track of your recovery progress and see your information on the Marathon Tracker.

Here’s more info: using Achilles Timeline Widget

Please change this post’s title to something more descriptive. Just leaving it as “Hello World” leads people to believe that you haven’t updated your first post!

If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask! :)

Dennis

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  • Recent Comments

  • Jules | May 10th, 2011 | 11:29 am

    Norm totally agree on your comments it was just that with weights you could confirm the improvement in strength along the way to a OLCR. Saying that I may have been a little hopeful starting my program next week. I seem to get a red sensitive patch in the middle of my scar after ive been using the leg. It’s right above the build up of scar tissue. Its exactly where i used to think the walking boot was rubbing but its obviously something else. Any ideas ?

  • normofthenorth | May 9th, 2011 | 4:51 pm

    JJ, I think we can actually come pretty close to your incremental weight-training approach without gym machinery, by doing 2-leg CRs and shifting weight progressively toward the weak side. It’s pretty obvious when we’ve shifted too much, because we won’t achieve lift-off. But loading it up almost that much, and doing a few handfuls of “reps”, and several such “sets” per day, sounds very much like a solid weight-training regime that should produce results. Doug53 and others have also suggested using the standard weight-training way of judging intensity: If you’re NOT stiff the next day, add more; If you ARE stiff 2 days later, do less.

    Mind you, I haven’t been that conscientious myself this time around. But I’ve also got my FIRST time around (8 years earlier) in the back of my mind. That time, I was capable of pushing off normally at the end of a barefoot stride at around 17 weeks, as soon as I (finally!) came out of my hinged boot (after 3 or 4 casts). No exercise regimes AT ALL, just walking and bicycling in the boot. I was even capable of doing a few full-height OLCRs (admittedly while groaning from the effort) on that same day

    [...]
  • cellblock4 | May 9th, 2011 | 3:30 pm

    i had pool access while on vacation, it was a great way to get the OCLR given buoyancy. if i didn’t live in manhattan, i would definitely find access to the pool (YMCA?) and train like an animal to get back to normalcy.

  • julesjames | May 9th, 2011 | 7:40 am

    Hi, I’m at 9 weeks and aiming towards the one leg calf raise too. I presume that your tendon has healed 100% in which case I assume it must just been muscle strength that’s stopping you performing a OLCR.

    I’ve been pondering on that aim and looked at this as a weight training goal. I used to train in the gym a lot to build up strength etc. I can see a potential problem with trying to go from 2 legged calf raises to a OLCR by just using our body weight alone as a training weight. If I were at the gym and could safely do say 20kg weight of resistance on a muscle and then tried to double it to 40kg people would think I’m mad.

    A plan would have to be devised of say 5% increase every week with a lot of training and reps in between and after 10 weeks or so we may have lift off. Well its must be impossible to do this incremental approach with your body weight alone as, like the gym, if you are 1kg over the max pulling strength of your muscle the weight is going nowhere, just like our heels.

    So have you thought about or tried a serious training program to meet our goal of a OLCR. I plan to start one at the gym at 10 weeks. I b

  • normofthenorth | May 9th, 2011 | 3:01 am

    I may not be the best source of advice, J, because I’m in a similar “boat”. More like 17 months for me, though I was busy and distracted for several months with open-heart surgery(!). Now I’m power-walking 2.5 miles at a time and bicycling 6 miles on many days, partly for transportation and partly for Cardiac Rehab. I’m returning to normal quite well for those activities, but definitely NOT for the 1-leg calf raise.

    I hope to be “cleared” for running soon after a new stress-cardiogram, and I’m very curious to see what that will feel like, and whether it will make my calf strength improve. I still do a bunch of 2-leggers while brushing my teeth, and I sometimes rise up silly-high at the end of my strides while power-walking, but mostly I’ve been thinking about the ticker more than the calf, though that’s starting to change. I’m not completely resigned to my calf having strengthened as much as I ever will, though that may be the case. Visually, I’m not too lopsided, but the 1-leg heel raises are still from different planets.

  • brutus | January 30th, 2011 | 2:17 pm

    Jonathan - ‘
    I had hardly any pain myself. When at the ER they asked my pain level form 1 to 10 and I said 2. It was very strange. I actually drove home 30 miles and that was my driving foot.

    I have heard of people passing out from the pain.

  • Connie | October 4th, 2010 | 10:43 am

    I will second my love for Canada and having healthcare covered (I’m from the US) with that said, as anxious as we get to be ‘ourselves’ again we have to find patience. I appreciate you sharing your story with others and encouraging post-op patients to not take physio into their own hands - leave it to the therapists ;o) Sounds like you have a great physio so stick with your program.

  • normofthenorth | September 21st, 2010 | 3:23 pm

    Nice. Our healing ATs and atrophied muscles need work, and they also need rest. It’s a fascinating balance. Iused to call it a tightrope, but now I liken it to trying to hit a “winner” in a court game like tennis: You want to get it close to line, but if you miss the line, you lose.

    I was also surprised how long I had to elevate to control swelling, after everything else (except calf strength) was back to normal. Some people escape that part.

  • andreea | August 13th, 2010 | 4:33 am

    HI Jonathan,
    I have just started to walk again without the boot (9 weeks post surgery, been in 2-shoes for 3 days). I did not even dare to take my boot out before I saw my physio (only 2 days after the surgeon said I’d be ready to lose the boot, so lucky for me, I had fought hard to get that referral 3 weeks before I needed it). I also found the physio very useful. Good to hear your advice re: taking it easy. I think Gerry is right, but it’s not just males who are competitive, I am 31 (now since in cast *sigh*) and have run a marathon, played tennis for over 10 years and consider myself pretty game for most sports too, so I am just as bad as the guys out there. But I am learning to love my achilles and to respect its needs. Thanks for sharing your story.
    Andreea

  • normofthenorth | August 13th, 2010 | 4:31 am

    If you can attain a normal gait — including that “push-off” at the end of your stride — soon after 3 months post-op, Jonathan, you’ll go pretty near the head of the class! That accomplishment is usually just a little while before the first 1-leg heel raise, which many of us got tired of waiting for.

    Actually, THIS time I waited and waited, and it’s finally coming (now at 8 months). The first time (2001-2, first ATR), I did NOT wait, and I wish I had. Details elsewhere, but I was talked into doing a few 1-leg heel raises at ~17 wks, on the first day when I could walk “perfectly” in bare feet — and doing so set me back a whole month! I had no pain while I was overdoing, but it set in soon afterwards, so be warned!

  • GerryR | August 12th, 2010 | 9:02 pm

    Nicely said and it’s gratifying to see this from a male. I think a lot of us competitive males tend to overdo things at times, some much more so than others. I cringe every time I read about someone claiming they “have” to drive because they’re bored and they have their driving leg in a cast or a boot. I personally don’t care if they endanger themselves, what bothers me is their selfishness in endangering other people. It is just too easy for a cast or boot to get caught on the brake pedal or accelerator and someone can be seriously injured or even killed. It’s good you understood the need to pull back and become a bit less obsessive about regaining calf strength. I’ve had to throttle back my own run training because I’ve re-discovered the “zone”. I can just get into a good tempo and sort of forget about everything else and suddenly my left calf is screaming at me and I realize there’s quite a bit of pain there. Fortunately it goes away very quickly after I stop so I know I’m not doing any damage and my PT doesn’t think I am either. It sounds like you have a good PT. Keep on keeping on and you will get back to where you we

    [...]
  • normofthenorth | July 21st, 2010 | 1:11 am

    Wow! I’m sure I would have gone with a wheelchair, or a wheeled chair, or a knee scooter, or something other than crutches to photograph the wedding. Segway maybe?

  • normofthenorth | July 20th, 2010 | 2:59 pm

    I can’t STAND the suspense, Jonathan!!

    Don’t beat yourself up for not stretching or warming up. The newest studies on stretching before strenuous activities are all negative (it makes performance works, and does not decrease the risk of injury). Warming up is good but (a) you weren’t going to run around the block before pushing your van out of the way, and (b) MANY of us here tore our ATs after warming up AND playing several games in our chose sport, so it doesn’t seem to be an overwhelmingly “cold” injury.

    OTOH, I’ve pushed enough cars out of snow-banks and the like, that I’ve discovered that it’s easier, safer, and even more powerful and efficient, to push BACKWARDS! Try it some time — though maybe not this month!

    Don’t delay the next instalment TOO long. . .