Today is exactly week 4 post-op and week 5 post-injury. I had an appointment at the Clinique to change the angle in the cast. I was moved from an initial 30 degrees to now 15 degrees. I have another appointment in 10 days to change the angle to 5 degrees and finish my 8 weeks in the cast at this angle. The pain was quite hard. I was helping by trying to stretch my foot as much as I could but the doctor was also pressing in order to bring it to the desired angle. Aside from the pain, the feeling is strange.
The surgeon dropped by to say hello, he said he was super happy with the healing so far, which was good news as far as I can tell.
Now I am allowed for PWB. Will start trying tomorrow as this afternoon I have the feeling my foot has been crushed by an elephant and all movements are painful. Hopefully the night will help.
The scar is still super small and super clean. No stitches to be removed which is great. Swelling is close to inexistent so far, except during the evening after dinner. Comes like a swiss clock! Amazing!
Came back to work this week, it was quite good. Time flies a little bit faster when you are in the office. I have been working from home since day one, but it’s not the same, discipline is different at home, I felt it was harder to stay focus long hours.
On a side note, just bought a home trainer (Elite Qubo digital) for my bike. Looking forward to being able to start using it! Good thing about this injury is that you got a great excuse to buy some gadgets… Next one on my list is a Compex… Anybody has experience with compex ( for recovery? PT told me it’s a good way to help the recovery.
9 responses so far ↓
normofthenorth // Nov 14th 2014 at 2:53 pm
I bought some heart rate monitors when I was recovering from a heart valve replacememt, but not after either ATR.
Pity you’re going slower than most of the non-ops. You may be able to educate your Doc, or to assert control as the customer/client/user/boss. Check the most successful modern protocols and studies.
derek // Nov 14th 2014 at 10:48 pm
Good look with the transition to PWB. I think you will find the extra blood flow and stress on the neglected muscles will be very helpful.
nico76 // Nov 15th 2014 at 9:52 am
@norm: well it’s slow but i trust my OS. There is a link to his webpage on my blogroll (Dr. Assal webpage) where you can see his bio. I am comfortable with the battle plan established.
Re compex, it’s actually electrostimulation (not the one you can see on tv commercials) used by athletes for muscle building, recovery, increase blood flow etc. I was already thinking of it before the injury.
James // Nov 15th 2014 at 10:53 am
It sounds like we had our injuries around the same time as well as our surgeries. I am 4 weeks post op and 5 from my fall playing football. I started on a 20 degree angel for 2 weeks. Then I moved to a 10 degree angel and yesterday was moved to flat for the final 2 weeks. Its a very strange sensation when the doctor is pushing your foot in place for each cast.
I’m starting to get very nervous for the physiotherapy involved in recovery although I can’t wait to get rid of these crutches.
normofthenorth // Nov 15th 2014 at 3:18 pm
Good Docs (and trust) are good, but so is evidence.
My PT used an electrostim on my ATR as well as infrared and a laser. He said the home versions of the first 2 I had at home were either useless or dangerous. I’ve never seen any good published evidence on any of those gizmos, but I haven’t searched either.
Good luck!
hongkongexpat // Mar 26th 2015 at 12:48 pm
Hi Nico. I’ve enjoyed reading your story - thank you for sharing. I’m now 3 weeks, 2 days post-op (just posted an update on it). I went to my doc and had him push on my foot also - geeeez it was a strange mix of feelings! Happy that my tendon felt connected. Bizarre that my calf felt so inflexible. NERVE-WRECKING fearing that the tendon wasn’t strong enough when he pushed on my foot! It was just mildly painful but I think I was grimacing more out of worry, and to hopefully signal to the doctor not too take it too far.
I’m curious about your angle changes though…
Initial 4 weeks: 30 deg
Up until 5.5 weeks: 15 deg
Up until 8 weeks: 5 deg
Also, in the comment from James…
Initial 2 weeks: 20 deg
Up until 4 weeks: 10 deg
Up until 6 weeks: neutral (in cast)
For my protocol…
Initial 3 weeks: 50 deg
Up until 6 weeks: 35 deg
Then into 2 shoes with 2 crutches.
Both of you started out with a smaller angle, and moved it slowly to neutral. I seemed to have started out with a bigger angle (toe pointed as much as possible) and will make a big 35 deg jump to 2 shoes at the end. I’m a bit worried about this final transition - have you guys found that closing the angle at the end towards neutral been quite tough?
nico76 // Apr 5th 2015 at 2:22 am
Hi HK expat, sorry for my late reply, I was travelling in your region…
I suppose the angle scheme is something that depends from one patient to another. I found that the first angle change was the harder, then i wouldn’t say it’s a piece of cake but it was much easier.
I also remember that when i removed the cast, I was not completely neutral and I was standing up like a dancer (you know, with one leg forward…. quite funny) but after 2 weeks it disappeared gradually.
keep looking forward, you will be amazed how this injury becomes gradually a distant memory!
hongkongexpat // Apr 11th 2015 at 1:22 am
Thanks for the reply. I already know what you mean with the standing like a dancer. I’ve been doing it every now and then with my cast on to try put a bit of weight on it. It gives the other knee a good work out however.
In your first 2 weeks post-cast, how did you gradually get your foot to neutral? Did you stretch your calf/achilles regularly whilst resting, or was the motion of walking enough to do it alone?
nico76 // Apr 12th 2015 at 6:17 am
Well I found mostly that the 2 weeks post cast, range of motions, walking and using a thera band have been the most useful tools/techniques to release the tendon. Can’t say which one was the most useful but I have a feeling that walking was the most useful. But as said by many members of this community, everything is so gradual that you do not notice the changes from one day to another, but suddenly, you realize that you have significantly improved over the past x day! On my end, this feeling was truly amazing!
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