Week 26, Couple Weeks to Month 7
Time is really flying now. Month by month. Somewhat bizarre I’m approaching month 7 post-op.
To summarize the milestones I’ve hit thus far after surgery?
1 month/4 weeks - splint off in week 2, into Aircast/boot
2 months/8 weeks - tried walking in the house, no boot, around 5 weeks, ditched boot at 7 weeks; pool heel raises and walking since week 6; OK’ed to start stationary biking without boot at week 6 checkup
3 months/12 weeks - start of official PT - calf atrophied bad and needed to build strength back up before OK’ed
4 months/16 weeks - loss of limp, perhaps somewhere in the 17 week range; started jogging and stopped stationary biking
5 months/20 weeks - started minor jumping drills; burpees and weighted lunges; got the full unsupported SL heel raise if I recall correctly - STILL have lots of work to do here
6 months/24 weeks - was well into box jumps, one-legged jumping, other plyos; OK’ed for any exercises that don’t cause pain - entered what I felt to be a new “phase” of recovery: new elasticity, more spring returning to tendon/step, etc
Thus far, I haven’t had any pain, just post-workout soreness the next day, which naturally loosens up with more movement throughout the day. I have “heel drop” of a few centimeters if I go up on two, take away the support leg, and try to stand with my leg totally straight and heel raised. This will change with strength gains. This is my last major hang-up. It’s very frustrating how slow strength comes back despite working hard at it and ingesting mass amounts of protein.
My jogging/running stride is pretty fluid and natural at this point. So I’m very happy there. I’m able to rather easily run 4+ miles, and plan to do a 6 miler this week. My one-legged jumping/hopping is weak but getting better by the day. I don’t really feel any compensatory discomfort from running in my hips anymore. I had some knee soreness starting to develop a few weeks ago that has subsided.
Box jumps have been very fun and a good way to keep up my cardio and stamina. When I first started with 12″, it seemed like so much for the tendon (and seemed like it was actually difficult). The same for 24″, and on up to 36″. Now I am hitting around 10-12 reps on 36″ and I’m feeling good. 42″ is still a bit intimidating. I had the boxes stacked up the other day and figured I would give it a little more time. I set a goal to hit that sometime this week, so I might actually try it tonight or tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Looking ahead, I have a LONG ways to go on calf strength, size, and stamina. My goals remain the same and I hope I mostly forget about the injury by month 9, but as I near month 7 I am beginning to realize it will truly take a year or more despite my best efforts. I have yet to measure my calves but I still have a noticeable deficit on the injured side (it’s all on the inside of the calf).
Overall I’ve had a relatively uneventful, slow, but smooth recovery. I have one final PT session scheduled for next week as somewhat of a baseline test/review of where I am now and to give me a general framework for where to go in the next months. I’ve also requested more Graston, as I have a bump of scar tissue over the repair site that’s been there all along that’s really just annoying to look at.
I have no plans to return to any basketball leagues until after the year mark. Man, that will be interesting getting back on the court at a competitive level. Many say they are hesitant for the first few outings, but then completely forget about the injury having happened after that. Hope I’m in the same boat!
Best to all else going through this long recovery.