Another one bites the dust…
Found this website after a complete tear to my Achilles during rec league basketball. As everyone has stated, it felt like some one kicked me in the back of the leg really hard. Now I’m sitting on the couch with a big ugly cast on. Surgery was last Thursday the 15th of March. The pain subsided after only a couple of days. I was released back to work from home Monday. This site has assisted me quite a bit in terms of knowing what to expect and in conversations with the doctor. Next Monday the 26th I will be visiting the Doctor for a post op inspection. The original plan is to re-cast it for another 2 weeks. I really dread the idea of this and was wondering if anyone went to a walking boot after a week and a half of surgery? Also, was wondering if someone could chime in on a preferred walking boot? Thanks in advance!
-Matt
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Hi Matt, good to meet you. I went into the boot on day 12 after surgery, aircast boot with heel wedges. I am in the UK under NHS care and my hospital use the aircast, no choice for me unless I spend some wedge, but I find it fine and it is nice to escape from it 4 times a day to wiggle my toes and do some light ROM exercises.
It is a bit heavy but apart from that okay. Don’t do what I did and pump it up too tight leading to crazy pins and needles in my toes at 2am!!
Good luck and keep posting your progress and questions.
Hi Matt,
I had a splint & ace bandages for 9 days after surgery & was put in aircast boot on day 9. I was not really stable at that point so left using the crutches. It seems that early protocol is somewhat dependent on where you live… I’m in Vail with a very high percentage of the population being very active. Seems that docs here in general are a bit more aggressive than most of what I’ve been hearing elsewhere. Probably because a conservative approach would not gain any business here.
Aircast boot is very stable - I was working in it at 2 weeks post-op, but pretty heavy… and no mater what boot you use, with heel lifts in there it is a strain on the hips since the other foot has a shorter heel.
Good luck…
Boot two weeks after surgery. Was still using crutches for any kind of distances for a few weeks after that.
As Pablomoses notes, until you’ve removed pretty much all the wedges from the boot, you’re hobbling around with legs that seem effectively of unequal length — it’s some hip and possible knee strain if you overdo it.
Whether or not you get a recast instead of a boot might depend on factors that I have no knowledge of. Tell the doc your preference, and ask why he/she recommends one course of action over another.
All best w/ it.
I went into a boot with no heel wedges on day 2. Don’t know if this is good or bad. Doctor was able to repair my tendon to where I could get it to 90 degrees…took me a few days because of incision pain, but have been at 90 since8 days post op or so….only downside to the boot right off is that it is heavy and felt like it was pulling on my incision although I don’t think it was doing any damage as I had stitches out 7days after surgery and incision was completely closed up by day 12…it seems mine has been an exception as I have not seen may that went directly into a boot with no heel wedges