Week 1, Post Op Appointment
1-3-13
I now have a refurbished achilles tendon!
The surgery went well. I was in some pretty intense pain right after, but I’m a baby when it comes to needles, so I denied the offer of a pain blocking shot in my leg. I was given a prescription for Norco and I certainly used them. It was taking 2 pills every 4 hours on the dot just to keep the pain down to a dull roar. Once I got through the weekend the pain had subsided and I didnt need any more pain killers. I just stuck with the anti inflammatory he prescribed.
In the post op appointment the following week the doctor described my achilles as shredded once he saw it. He actually said it looked like a mop. that being said he had to cut away a little more on both ends to allow him to sew two solid pieces together. The big concern here was that it would be a little tighter and it would take more time to get it stretched out. Has anyone else had this issue? Any potential problems?
Given the tighter tendon,the fact that I am the youngest person he’s ever seen with this injury ( 29 yrs old) and my desire to get back to crossfit as quickly as possible, he told the physical therapist he wants me on a somewhat accelerated program. ( I chose to go with the in house PT because I felt it was good to have my doctor in the same office in case there were questions and it’s also very close to my office) He apparently got a little blow back from the PT because of the concern for re-rupture, but the ortho pushed him on it because of his tremendous confidence in the sew job and the use of fiberwire. This made me feel like he was actually on my side and progressive enough to want me back at crossfit as soon as I am able.
I was given a boot with 6 lifts in the heal. Every 5-7 days I am to remove one lift. It shouldn’t be painful to move to the next lift. He admited that the boot was ugly, but it was the one he believed would help me most. I could slowly add more weight bearing as I saw fit. If it swells, that’s an indicator I overdid it. I like this doctor!
Pic of my gnarly wound. He commended me for keeping it elevated, which kept the swelling down. He said it showed how committed I was to getting it better.
This is the ugly boot.
March 20th, 2014 at 5:41 am
Hey! So I’m in northern Indiana at CrossFit Raze and ruptured my achilles March 1 during my first DU in 14.1! (That sucked.) Anyway, my coach found your blog, and it is really helpful. I had surgery March 11 and see the doc tomorrow for my first post-op visit at 10 days out. I’ve been to the box a couple of times and am modifying a lot to be able to work out. (I can even do burpees 1-legged.)
ANYWAY, I would love be in touch if you’re up for it. I’m afraid my doctor’s going to be conservative, and I want to be as aggressive as I dare (not foolish) in getting better - I’m a nursing student about to graduate and want to work! You could find me on Facebook (Stephanie Price) (#heelheal) if you wanted. I’ve been posting pics and videos, too. How are you now, in March 2014?!
Blessings!
Steph
March 20th, 2014 at 12:50 pm
Steph, my advice is always the same: check out the studies with the best results, and stay close to their protocols. I’ve posted bit.ly/UWOProtocol from a 2010 Canadian study that got excellent results (with and without surgery), and Hillie has posted a link to a study from Exeter that may have gone a bit faster (and used hinged boots, unlike UWO and you) and got results at least as good — including NO post-op reruptures in a decent-sized sample! Posted on suddsy’s blog, and Hillie just reposted the link in a comment a few days ago.
There’s also a very large recent Irish study with a 2.7% rerupture rate in almost 1000 non-op patients, with the link to the study posted by mikejp88 recently on his blog. I know you’re not non-op, but I think most conservative OSs would be embarrassed to learn that 1000 patients did great without surgery going FASTER than the OS’s patients!
It seems so logical that going slow is safer, spending longer NWB and immobilized to “let it heal first”, that many professional surgeons and PTs and trainers and coaches just can’t believe the evidence that proves conclusively that going slower than these modern aggressive protocols is LESS safe. But truth is truth whether or not is matches our pre-conceptions, or those of our health professionals. And if you can educate yours to the new evidence, it will help the next bunch of ATR patients as well as yourself.
In intemperate moments, with patients whose OSs refuse to consider the evidence, I sometimes recommend printing out the studies and slapping the OS across the face with them — figuratively speaking, of course!
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