I was just changed over to the boot and it is such a pleasure to itch he hell out of my leg without using a hangar. I will get a second opinion just to be totally confident about my healing. In doing some research I found someone who does a procedure that I never saw anyone mention before. Here is the link
http://www.hss.org/conditions_14383.asp
Has anyone ever seen this before?
Hello everyone I first ruptured my achilles on christmas playing football. 2 weeks later I had surgery and I was in a cast for 4 weeks. I was put in a boot and I was allowed to FWB. After 2 weeks in the boot I went to 2 shoes and PT. The PT that I went to pushed me real hard to the point where I was very nervous. Imagine the 1st appt I was doing the bike (which was broken and was at max resistance)and I felt pain and stiffness. I said don’t you think that is going a little fast and they exclaimed that this will loosen up your foot a little. I had 4 appts all together with them and I was doing toe raises by then. I did feel fine by then but by reading all the other posts I did not think I should be at this point by then. I told my dr. that the pt was pushing me hard and all he said was “as long as there is no pain”. Well what happened after that really sucked. I did something totally stupid and I can tell you how stupid it was by the amount of people that told me it was stupid. I shoveled our driveway and I was fine until I got to the 1st stair. I slipped and fell to the bottom stair and heard that POP (not as loud as the 1st time) and a strange feeling in my foot. I hopped inside took off my boot and noticed my whole sock was all bloody. I looked at my ankle and saw that I made an new incision that went left to right across my whole ankle. Stuff was coming oout of the hole and was in a tremendous amount of pain. At the time I was wearing timberland boots and my dr. thinks I made this new incision my my achilles hitting the hard piece behind the ankle of the boot. Nobody at the ER ever saw anything like this and neither did my dr. I went for an mri and found out I only partially tore it. He thinks I tore it about 60-70%. He gave me the option of a second surgery in which he would take tendons from my thigh to hold it together and the risk of infection was much higher. The alternative was to put me in a cast for a longer period of time and wants to bubblewrap me so I don’t do anything stupid this time around. I opted for no surgery (can u blame me) and I have been in a cast for about 1 month now. I am pulling my hair out I am beyond frustrated. My leg is skinny because I think I lost every possible muscle in my whole entire leg. Did I make the right decision by not doing the second surgery?
Hi Mandow,
I’ve mentioned this procedure in my blog, however it is still a surgery. They also state that there can be complications by reaching the tendon. The other option what I’ve heard is when they glue the tendon together. There is no surgery, just a regional anesthesia, when they inject the “glue” into the right place. most unfortunately I couldn’t find any information online. Maybe is something very similar to the procedure what has been mentioned by Rudedog.
http://www.biomet.com/biologics/international/print/Y-INT-087R_071506.pdf
And I’m sure this way is much more efficient and there are less complications also the healing time is shorter.
When I was looking for a Doc to repair my achilliesI came across this link. I researched Dr Elliott and found out that he limited his practice to the foot and ankle which sounded good to me.
Although I wasn’t a candidate for the minimally invasive procedure as my repair required a tendon transfer I still put the scalpel in Dr Elliott’s hand. I was not dissapointed. If you live NY Area and are looking for a surgeon the guy is fantastic.
Hi, I first ruptured my Achilles in Tae Kwon Do doing jumping/sparring techniques. I had the surgery, two months after quick healing I was out of all casts and the same day I fully reruptured just by walking. We opted for no surgery, all in all, have been in some type of cast since September 26th, 2008. I am to get the boot cast off next week and move on to physical therapy. I was also a racewalker and had great muscle tone before this accident and have absolutely none left in my leg now It’s been a rough road, but as the other Marianne stated, find your go to place. My second rupture has completely healed in with scar tissue and I am very optimistic about my range of motion. I completely understand what you’re going through — just take it a day at a time, you’ll be through it in no time and ready to roll again. Take care, and heal fast 
Ty for your kind words. The dr. spoke to a specialist to determine if I should have the second surgery and he agreed to leave it alone and that it should heal properly by itself. He did say that if in 6 months my ankle feels weak I can always opt to have the surgery then. When they changed my cast yesterday my mood was enlightened when he did a thompson test and everything worked as it should. It is just a matter of waiting it out. My rupture was 7 weeks out from the original.
Ouch,
That sounds awful. Best of luck for your recovery.
Annie
Ugh…terrible news, sorry to hear it. Based on what you’ve written and IMHO, non-surgery seems like the prudent move. I had a re-rupture (complete) and a second surgery. My doctor would not have operated if it was up to a 75% tear and he takes a very, very aggressive approach to ATRs.
As Marianne noted (sidenote: sounds like things are going well, Marianne! Hope you are wearing the boot at all times…even while sleeping though it’s a pain-in-the-ass), the infection risk is a real concern, especially with your incision. The second surgery is a much more invasive procedure and heightens the chance of infection or necrosis in the lower leg area. I did not have any grafting done but still developed a wound complication that is still slightly with me at over nine months.
And, yes, you are going to lose a horrifying amount of muscle mass and tone. BUT…with a little work, I have found you can regain most of it pretty damn quickly.
My advice: Don’t worry about the things you can’t control until you get back on two feet. Then, use all that pent up energy during the rehab (but don’t rush it) and you will be giving positive
[...]mandown - Sometimes you’ve just got to trust the docs. Opening up your thigh for the graft would be a much more invasive surgery than just re-doing the achilles repair, and infection is definitely a real consideration. Sounds like you’ve already made your choice, so just try to be content with it. I also reruptured doing something stupid, so I literally feel your pain. Mine was not nearly as gory as yours. I just got to “that place” in my head the other day, where I’ve stopped beating myself up for the stupidity of the reputure. Hope you can join me there soon!
- Marianne(2)
I am very sorry to hear about your second injury. I have tremendous fear of reinjuring my leg especially since I am out of work until I am fully healthy.
I don’t blame you for opting not to have the surgery but personally I would have had it. With out the surgery you may be in a cast for an extended period and then be told that you HAVE to get the surgery anyway.
How many weeks was it from the first rupture until the second?
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