Driving w/ right ATR w/o boot 4 weeks post-op

4 weeks after my operation and after the first 3 PT sessions I felt good enough to try to drive with my injured leg. It is totally against the doctor and the therapist but I do not feel the physiological danger of it (let’s not talk about the legal side for now).

I tried driving with my left foot 2 weeks post op but did not find it safe so I skipped it. So now that the cast is off and I am getting somewhat comfortable with the boot, I decided to try driving once again. My doc said that (after ~2 weeks in the boot) most people drive with the boots but I did not find it comfortable or safe enough so I decided to give it a shot without it. First, I tried barefoot but then I could not rest my right heel on the floor so I put on a shoe (I was in two shoe at 4 weeks…:))

To be honest it felt totally safe. It is easier than PT… I had no problem with the gas pedal and I could easily apply enough force to the break. Modern cars have such sensitive breaks (that is why I could not drive with my left foot…). In any case, I did not see any danger of rerupturing my tendon or feel that I could not apply enough force to the break. It was only a little difficult to flex my ankle enough but I moved the seat back and then it felt like a nice PT. Obviously, I will not drive long distances but at least now I don’t need a ‘babysitter’ every time I need to get something done.

Have anyone else tried driving w/o a boot so early?  Could anyone make the case for driving in the boot instead? Anyone heard any stories?

Let me know! First and formost I want to stay safe but I did not feel any significant danger of driving w/o the boot as long as I step right back into it as soon as I park the car…

Achilles tendon off the heel bone

I will keep the long story short but I got injured in LA and decided to take a 20-hour flight home to Hungary where my doctor friend hooked me up with an excellent surgeon.  I will try to blog some of the more ‘fun’ details of my pre-op but right now I have a question.

I was to have a percutanous surgery but when my doctory examined my heel, he said that he had to do open surgery and drill holes in my heel bone b/c the tendon broke off the bone. I spent a few hours looking around on this site but I could not find any specific info on this type of (more serious?) injury and the differences in the path to recovery.

Did anyone have the same type of injury/surgery and/or could give me some advice or explain me the differences in the healing process comapred to the ‘typical’ ATRs?

Thanks in advance,

Ben