Hello. Full tear here.
How it happened: playing volleyball on May 23. Felt like someone hit me on the ankle and down i went. Didnt hurt that bad so i tried to stand up. It felt like i was in a high heeled shoe on my left foot so i quickly sat back down. After a visit to the ER found out that it was a full rupture.
Hospital visits: i visited the specialist the next day. He gave me the typical surgery if athelete and non if your older. So i signed up to have surgery the next week.
Research: throughout the next week the wife and i did a lot of research online and talked to my brother and friends. My wife is a phd and i have a masters so we know how to look at scholarly articles. These articles were a headache cause they just seemed to go back and forth between surgery vs non. My brother and friend who are both doctors said either way is the right way, but they would both prefer non surgical to be conservative. So after hearing them out and reading lots i was leaning non surgical if the doctor would go rapid rehab (seemed like most of the positive non surgcal routes paired those two). So i called the doctor to talk about it more. The doctor said he only does ten weeks of casting if they went non surgical. My bro and friend also found out my doctor was still under fellowship and referred me to a better doctor in the system i was under. The new doctor was much more experienced. He recommended the minimally invasive procedure. He said why cause more trauma to fix something. I liked the sound of this so i eventually got rescheduled for surgery. Other factors to lead me toward this surgical was that he still advocated for the longer casting if i wanted to do that. I didnt want to be stuck in casts for that long. If i was the rehab would take that much longer. The minimal invasive seemed like a good trade off. No huge scar and quicker results.
Sugery day: new sugery scheduled with new doctor. Went in that day. Thing i was scared most about was the IV. I hate needles. The IV wasnt that bad of course, just fears from being stuck as a kid. They used a general anestetic so i was KO’d and it was over just like that. Doctor said the incision ended up being about an inch long. Cant complain with that. After getting drugs and some instruction i was out of there in my half cast.
Recocery: i took lots of advil and vicodin regulaly the first two days just so i would avoid pain if any. Admittedly i didnt really experince much pain at all. After a few days the greatest pain i have was back pain from lying in bed all day. By day 3 the swelling had gone down considerably. I just take a single advil now to thin the blood for better circulation. Nurse said the first 5-7 days are critical to healing and to keep my foot elevated. So thats all ive been doing since sugery. Day 5 post sugery now.
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There is so much information out there, and it is more difficult for us laymen to take on board because we research the data, such as the rapid rehab you’ve mentioned, then find that some medics either haven’t caught up yet, or don’t have the financial resources for fancy boots, lots of physio, or the insurance won’t pay, etc. Seems you have a good guy though.
In my case though I took the ‘rapid rehab’ or accelerated/aggressive route. I was in a cast for 2 weeks, then moved into a very good, adjustable, boot (and immediately begin weight bearing, losing the crutches mostly) for another 7. Shoes followed a week later. Basic physio began after week 2, increasing over the weeks.
I’m in the UK where this protocol has become very popular over the past few years, and I’ve read that it is gaining more favor in the US too for the right patients. The timeline at ‘my’ clinic is the same for surgical as conservative. In case anyone wonders, ‘conservative’ does not equal ‘easy’.
Have a great recovery. The time will fly!
If any of the doctors in my hospital did it your way i wouldve gone non surgical for sure. My brother and doctor friend advised against pushing a protocol the hospital doesnt normally use though. My doctor did seem to be agressive on rehab following surgery so hopefully my body responds quickly.
I would agree with your brother and your friend. At my orthopaedic centre, they can offer both operative and non-op, and be completely competent with each.
Good luck, jsk! Your docs are out of date, which is still way too common with this “boring”, “don’t get no respect” injury. You may be amused by an old blog here from a young woman in Connecticut who faced a similar choice and fought it. She went by two names, IIRC, johanna and firstdayofsummer. Try ‘em both after achillesblog.com/ and you should find her amazing story.
I would never try to push a surgeon to do a surgery (s)he was uncomfortable with. But non-op ATR treatment isn’t surgery; we put surgeons in charge of it as much from habit as anything else. Usually the PT really runs the show, if not the patient…
The main downside I’ve read about min-invasive ATR surgery is the elevated risk of damaging a nerve (suris, or something?). Hope you escaped that — and all the other “bumps in the road” that we all face(d), of course!
achillesblog.com/johanna/ works.