Recent update
- 1 year…
- First real practice after 9 months
- Feeling just great!
- Night out! And day after…
- Photos
- PT update
- To play or not to play?
- 3 days left to complete week 12
- My story so far (up to week 11)
Feeling just great!
April 21st, 2010 by marina
It’s been a while since my last post, I’m so glad that this blog is still alive, thank you Dennis 
On almost 5 months mark, I’m feeling great finally. I can walk without a limp on level surfaces and I’m really close to a single heel raise. Calf is getting stronger day by day, I spend almost 1 and a half hours in my PTs gym, 3 times per week and do a bunch of stretching and strengthening excercises. Last few weeks, I have been visiting regularly the basketball court and trying some jump shots and jogging. Doesn’t feel any pain at all, it’s just a bit weird, I think I have to get used to run all over again. Yesterday, we tried some ‘basketball-ish’ excercises with my physio, such as defence, it was so exciting!
It feels so good getting involved again with what I love and I missed these last 5 months and cannot be anything less than happy I’ll get back with new fotos soon!
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- marina has completed the grueling 26.2 ATR miles to full recovery!
Goal: 365 days from the surgery date.
Click here for the Group Marathon Tracker
ATR Timeline
- Name: marina
Location: Athens, Greece
Injured during: basketball
Which Leg: R
Status: 2-Shoes
706 wks 2 days Post-ATR
705 wks 3 days
Since start of treatment
on April 21st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Good to hear your “voice” again, Marina! And good to hear that you’re progressing, and appreciating the progress, too. I just enjoyed a week of (difficult!) skiing at Whistler after 4 months, so I’m also in “appreciating the progress” mode.
Also still frustrated that a single-leg heel raise is out of reach, but I’m lowering my body weight on that foot more slowly and with more control than a week or two ago.
I had my first serious muscle-workout-in-the-gym PT session today. My past sessions (with a different PT) were mostly massage and gizmos (laser, ultrasound, interference current) and take-home exercises. But these are more like “5 more, 4 more, 3 more, 2 more, 1 more, rest now!”
I get to take the exercises home to do, too, unless they’re on fancy equipment I don’t own, but this woman definitely wants to WATCH me sweat! I guess that’s good for me, though I’d rather build up my strength skiing and bicycling and walking or running, than doing multiple sets of multiple reps of anything!
I’m still not convinced that any of my new exercises are better than the 2-leg heel raise on the stairs, with a 1-leg lower (over and over and over)!
Keep progressing, and keep in touch!
on April 21st, 2010 at 10:53 pm
For the life of me I can’t do single toe raises on the right side.
I did try a few yesterday and sloppy-ly did 3. I think.
It’s been 7 months for me.
on April 22nd, 2010 at 1:23 am
Hello Norm, glad to be back
I’ve read half of your long post yesterday at work, going to read the rest soon, it’s nice getting back to your sports activities and not only these.
I’m only on interference currents, then workout. I think I’m going to end the PTs at the end of this month, since I can do my excercises on the court or at home, I got everything except from the trampoline but I don’t think I’ll have to use it again, since I’m already jumping on the floor, back and forth, on toes. I can feel my tendon getting stronger and I’m not afraid of it at all, this is a big progress for me, psychologically. I understand what you mean, I too, would like to build the calf on court instead of the gym, this is why I’ll end the PT sessions soon, since I can do my excercises at home or while on court. I’ve already spent a fortune on PTs..
Regarding the single heel raises, I’ve started from scratch, doing stretching against the wall, then I started to push on back foot, then again pushing but raising also front foot and now I’m standing close to the wall and do some single leg raises but with hands on the bar.
One excercise that I feel is really good, is the one with the bad foot back, good foot on the front, pushing the floor and bringing my body close to the wall. I now tie a hard rubber band (black one) on a bar on the wall and around my waist for extra difficulty. When I reach at a point after some days that I do this easily, I do one step further to increase the distance from the wall and make it even more difficult.
Of course, key to success is STRETCHING. I do as much stretching excercises in between the strengthening ones, as I can.
The only thing that worries me is my other tendon. Sometimes I feel it ‘hurts’. I ice this too at the end of each session. Both my surgeon and PT insist that there’s nothing to worry about, as my whole good leg has suffered almost all my weight all these months and that it should be stronger by now. My PT and my team’s trainer, suggested that I do a lot of stretching to both legs, and not only calf and tendon.
Mari, same for me, I only do 2-3 by myself, but I expect to be doing them nicely by 7 month’s mark.
on April 22nd, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Your other leg is probably just fine. OTOH, it is a sad by undeniable fact that all single-ATR sufferers run a much higher-than-normal risk of tearing the other one. There’s a link to a study (the only one I’ve ever seen on this) that I think puts it at 200x the normal risk within the following 4 years.
That still doesn’t make it “likely”, but then we already know that we’re “special”, right?
It’s not an outcome that I’d wish on anybody, but I’ve actually found my second one much less depressing and frustrating than my first one — partly because I followed a much quicker and less painful (non-surgical) protocol than the first time. (I did NOT feel that way immediately, at the moment of the “snap”, when I first realized what I’d done and responded with a very bad word!)
on April 23rd, 2010 at 5:01 am
Great, I am now 200x worried
I guess, even if I play basketball again or not, I may suffer another rupture to my other foot, as I am a pretty active person. I can’t even imagine that I will ever stop going to the gym for example.
I can understand that, even on the thought I may sometime tear my other one, I say to myself ‘ok, you’ve been there, now you know’.