Stir crazy
I am entering my third week since I ruptured my Achilles. Since I am not allowed to fly or drive long distances due to the elevated risk of blod clots, I am trapped in my college town for the holidays. I made a trip to a craft store to investigate various DIY projects I can complete over the holiday break while concurrently binge-watching my favorite shows on Netflix. Things could be worse!
It’s a shame that my tendon decided to rupture close to the holidays since all I want to do is indulge in cookies and Bailey’s! I’ve read the posts of others regarding various exercises that can be done to maintain some level of fitness during this grueling recovery. As of now, I think I can only manage upper body strength exercises and ab workouts. Yesterday, I went to TJ Maxx and bought myself a pair of dumbbells. I hope to become a sit-up and push-up queen by the end of this.
After how many weeks did everyone begin some sort of cardio exercise? I scoot around in my knee scooter for about an hour a day to pretend I am working out.
Hope everyone has a safe holiday break!
December 22nd, 2014 at 4:19 PM
I let my cardio slide until I could bicycle, on the road. The first few big bills were pretty brutal, but regaining CV fitness is a breeze compared to getting an ATR leg back to 100%!
BTW, although it’s true that both ATRs (with or without surgery, especially with) and long airplane trips incease the risk of DVTs (and therefore PEs), staying in the wrong part of the world to avoid clots seems extreme to me. For one thing, there are anticoagulants - primarily daily injections of low molecular weight Heparin - that can virtually eliminate that risk. A number of people here get that prescription even without planned plane trips.
For another thing, I suspect the combined risk of a clot us still pretty low, even without the shots - though a serious clot can admittedly be very serious.
December 22nd, 2014 at 4:21 PM
bills –> hills, and us –> is.
Please activate AJAX Editing on this page, and please ask everybody else to do so, too! I’ve already asked Dennis to make that setting the default, but it seems to be impossible.
December 22nd, 2014 at 6:27 PM
Lauren- I started riding a spin bike at 3 weeks. First time was only 5 mins at no resistance just to make sure it was fine, which it was. Then I rode for 10 mins with very little resistance and added 5 mins each week- sounds like a feeble effort but I think it really helped. There are also lots of Pilates exercises you can do for for your glutes, quads and hamstrings- popsugar online is free. As long as you are not in a splint you should be able to keep the stir crazies at bay!
December 22nd, 2014 at 11:17 PM
@normofthenorth - I just enabled AJAX editing. I wish the allowable WordPress features would let me reply individually to specific comments.
Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement re: exercising. I am going to do some upper body workouts tomorrow. I start PWB on Wednesday (at least that’s what I was told!) - fingers crossed!
December 23rd, 2014 at 12:46 PM
I started bicycling (road) while still booted, FWB. As long as you can handle the FWB-plus from a fast stop, it should be OK. 2 shoes is a bit scarier, but OK after you get some strength. You can pedal on your heel, then gradually shift to the ball of your foot. A stationary exercise bike eliminates the fast-stop risk, and the shock of potholes.
After my ATR #2 (non-op) I had a heart valve replaced, then weeks of cardio rehab. The whole group was prescribed walking exercises for 5x/week, graduating to walk-jog, then jogging, always with frequent pulse/HR monitoring. I’ve never loved walking or running unless I’m chasing a ball, and I was also looking for something more like interval training, to simulate volleyball. The director/nurse (a fellow volleyball player) set me up on an exercise bike, with a wireless HR monitor that could read the chest strap sensor I had (came with a cheap display watch, $20 on special!).
For ~45 minutes plus warmup and cooldown, I was pushing hard up to a peak prescribed HR, then easing off (lower resistance) until my HR dropped to another prescribed level, then up again then down again… For me, that was a perfect CV workout, and I was sweating profusely at the end - a feeling I’d sorely missed through BOTH rehabs, given the timing!
You’d want to use slightly different numbers for ATR rehab - lower resistance, faster reps - but there’s no reason not to work up a sweat once you’re FWB, at least if you can get to an exercise bike (or a real bike).
December 24th, 2014 at 1:25 PM
As soon as I was FWB in the boot (I started around 3- 4 weeks post op) I started to Dance daily.
It’s a great cardio workout.
You can do it at home, you only need some music, it’s fun!