8 months already!
Well, it was the 8 month anniversary of my op last week and I saw the consultant on Friday 5th for a final signing-off session. He’s given the ok for me to do basically anything now and is very pleased with the strength of the tendon. Seemed happy with my walking and calf raises too this time!
There is some adherence in one part of the scar to the tissue underneath causing a slight puckering when I flex my foot, but surgeon was surprised I’d even noticed it. Said it might improve with vigorous massage but “not to worry about it”. As expected the repaired tendon is thicker than the uninjured one.
Will probably see the physio once a month for a few months yet as her advice has proved invaluable to me in my recovery and her manipulation and massage of the foot/ankle/leg always loosen things up even more. She says she’d prefer me not to start running again yet until I get my overall fitness back to where it was pre-injury, and she wants to work some more on improving my general flexibility which she feels has probably always been a little limited based on my uninjured leg. Am still doing single calf[raises and a sort of single-leg squat sideways on a step to build up strength - right calf still being smaller than the other.
Also still need to stretch first thing in the morning, particularly before trying to walk downstairs normally, but generally don’t think about my achilles now.
Can walk as much and as far as I want and at speed with no problem, am no longer worried about uneven surfaces or not being able to see where to put my foot, and can do a little run for the bus or train if I want to without thinking twice.
To celebrate I’ve sold the wheelchair- hurrah- and bought a crosstrainer.
And I’ve been out on the children’s trampoline in the sunshine today - the day it arrived and I tried to help my husband put it together whilst still NWB in a cast seems a lifetime ago now! It feels so great to be almost back to normal.
Best wishes to all.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
The progress sounds good, Sam, keep going!
It sounds to me like you were probably born with short ATs, Sam. It may run in the family. My father-in-law had that, and he had 2-leg surgery as a kid (75 yrs ago?) to lengthen them. He thinks they just sliced the tendons, closed him up, and stuck him in two casts so the ATs could heal longer, “conservatively”(!).
Mind you, the latest studies on the non-surgical cure for torn ATs (which usually have a gap) shows no significant difference in tendon length (ROM) between the people who had surgery to close the gap and those who didn’t. I can’t figure out how the “natural” “leave it to heal itself” cure can do it BOTH ways — lengthen the tendon when you want it to, and NOT lengthen it when you DON’T want it to!?!
Hmmm, maybe the difference is the position in which we’re immobilized! We folk are usually immobilized “in equinus”, toes down, and my FIL may have been immobilized in neutral position, so encourage his body to lengthen the tendons. Maybe.
Me, I’m 12 wks into a non-surgical cure of my second ATR, having had the first one operated on, 8 years ago. So far, my “new” tendon length seems either unchanged or a smidge shorter than before, despite the fact that I had a significant gap — maybe 6 cm — right after the rupture. (Magic?)
March 7th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Hi Sam,
Great to hear from another old timer!
Amazing progress, I’m really pleased for you.
Keep up the good work and first prize in the school sports day race will be yours!!!
March 7th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Cool Beans Sammy.
Here’s to bad memories that happened “a lifetime ago.”
DD
March 8th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Thanks guys - will keep on going and hopefully improving. Hope all is continuing well with you.
Chris - no mums’ race in the Junior school, so I really went out with a bang!
normofthenorth - quite prob I do have naturally short achilles tendons. Have always naturally walked slightly on tiptoes when barefoot.
Read some of your “rants” about surgical v non-surgical. As I was initially misdiagnosed and had a slight delay in treatment, I chose the surgical route to be (hopefully) more certain of a strong repair, having also heard of 4 other people rerupturing after non-surgical route and thinking I didn’t want to risk delaying things even more.
I think my recovery problems have been due to the 9 weeks NWB in cast - you mention proprioception, plantar fasciitis, muscle wastage etc. Those are the things I struggled with for the first few months out of cast, in addition to not having the foot flat to the floor in the last cast.
But I trusted in my consultant. It was difficult to travel too far to get someone quickly when I decided to go private. I have since found other surgeons in the UK who are more progressive in their treatment but time/distance constraints would’ve made it difficult to use one of them.
Best wishes to all.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Great to hear this Sam!
I, too feel very nimble on my feet again, I noticed great improvements the past month or two. But yes,the original strength seems still like a distant goal.
I can understand the frustration with lack of flexibility; it is not as easy to reach it as it sounds: my daughter had to quit competitive gymnastics because she was just not flexible enough - something she inherited from her dad.
The trampoline sounds like great fun! Cheers.
2ndtimer
March 9th, 2010 at 4:25 am
Sam, you “heard of 4 other people rerupturing after non-surgical route”? Was that through your own personal network? I think I only know two other people personally who’ve torn their AT’s, period — other than all of you folks, and one or two people I met in the sports-medicine clinic last time.
Recently, I’ve heard about two friends-of-a-friend who had the non-surgical treatment, and they’re both happy with it. Both were medical students, along with the friend — now a doctor.
My latest blog post shows the full results of my latest online search for studies that compare surgical and non-surgical outcomes. I think I’ve figured out the sequence of events and such.
I also posted a link to an AMAZING-sounding new surgical protocol, from somewhere I’d never heard of in Japan.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Hi 2ndtimer, glad to hear all is still improving with you.
normofthenorth - of the 4 people who reruptured I only personally knew one of them, the others were friends of friends. Will try to look at the other studies you mention when I get a mo.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:02 am
I’m at 8 months and 3 weeks and in terrible pain some days and good other days.
I’ve given up on marathon training for now and need to find time to either swim or bike.
May 10th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Hi Mari,
I’m now over 10 months - missed the actual date ‘cos too busy writing assignments to write here.
I very occasionally get twinges in my ankle, but these aren’t in the actual tendon but rather in all the tissue/ligament stuff at the side. I still need to do stretches in the morning to help me walk normally as the tendon contracts a bit overnight, but I don’t get any real pain.
Perhaps you should check with your doctor or a physio to see if there are specific exercises or stretches you could do to help?
I’m using the cross trainer at home when I can and that is a good stretch for the leg without excess pressure on it, as well as aerobic exercise for my general fitness. My physio said swimming would be good too to get all the interconnecting ligaments etc flexible again.
Best of luck - keep at it, you’ll get there!