Suture Removal (S+17)
So, the first week in the boot was great! So much more mobility. Started hitting the gym with my friend and working upper body.
A little pain still every morning when I first get up and the blood goes to the leg, but most days not enough that I bother with Advil.
I’m still super nervous whenever the boot is off (showers mostly). I’m just super freaked out about a slip or something, but I have a shower chair, so hopefully that is unlikely.
Suture removal went well. Surgeon said everything looked good. No real change in my condition though. Still in the boot, with the wedge. And next appointment is in a month. So, this is my life for the next month. I’m going to try to make the best of it.
I did get the ok to do the stationary bike and swim without the boot as long as I’m careful to not let the foot dorsiflex.
I gave the stationary bike a try this Wednesday (S+19). Holy cow that was scary! I tried to put my midfoot on the middle of the peddle to take the pressure off the ball of my foot. Even that wasn’t enough. I peddled very slowly at the lowest resistance for 3 minutes, and even then, my ankle felt unsteady, and I could feel the muscles in my calf twitching. I shifted my foot up a few inches to put my heel in contact with the pedal, and that solved the problem, and I was able to increase resistance and speed.
Also got in some leg extensions, and then some leg curls, leg press, squats, and deadlifts (all one-legged of course). But it felt great to get some work in. Did chest and shoulders on (S+20) and will hit the gym this morning for something. Probably some time on the bike again, and some upper body work.
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Hard to say when you’ll get the OK for night time freedom since it varies by doctor.
If a recumbent bike is available you might try that instead. My doc OK’d using that (but not a stationary bike) with a shoe when I was NWB. I did NOT push with my bad foot since I was NWB, just rested it on the peddle which helped a lot in being able to work the other leg. I also used it with my boot on but the boot kept slipping off which was very annoying. If you have rowers in your gym you can use that as well. I kept my bad leg in the boot and on the floor but could still get a good upper body, left leg workout. As I was getting closer to my 6 week mark I tried putting the booted foot on the rower. Initially it would start bugging me after my first 500 yards so I would move it back to the floor. As I got closer to PWB time I was able to keep it on the rower. Definitely don’t try the rower with your foot in the shoe until you are boot free and get an OK from your doc. I did it for the first time yesterday and had to back off a bit on rowing since it really causes your ankle/foot to flex. As my foot/ankle get more flexible I’ll row harder but I did not want to set things back at this point since my doc warned me that the scar tissue around the anchors is still healing - as it is on the visible scar - so any undue stress can cause it to tear and reset the healing. Yours is a bit different since you had ATR so let your doctor make the call.