Achilles too long?

Posted on June 28th, 2015 by sambucaro

Yesterday I walked up and down 10 flights of stairs 10 times, and today only my good calf is sore.  I had no pain and I took it slow to make sure that I wasn’t favoring one leg or the other.  The calf that I had my achilles repaired feels like I did absolutely nothing, no soreness at all.  Could this be that my achilles healed too long? I notice that I have more dorsiflexion with my bad achilles when my leg is straight but equal when my knee is bent.

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2 Year Post Achilles Surgery, Weak Calf causing knee Pain Advice?

Posted on June 25th, 2015 by sambucaro

Hello everyone, I am writing this blog for my someone, who is feeling beyond defeated. He ruptured his achilles in December of 2012 during warmups at the gym. He had a great recovery, back at work after 6 months. And he is an electrician, so very active at work. After a year, he noticed his knee was bothering him. He couldn’t squat like he used to weight wise at the gym…he went back for therapy for his knee. We realized that was not helping…he went to a sports medicine doctor, who thinks his knee is compensating for his weak calf. After two years, he still can’t do an unassisted one leg calf raise on the achilles surgery leg, and does have quite a bit of scar tissue around his achilles scar (not sure if this matters). He can’t find answers, and I was praying someone on here had this experience and could guide us. So to sum it up, the achilles is healed, but now there are the calf/knee issues. I think it doesn’t help he is active all day at work, then tries to workout….but it’s the nature of the beast! Thanks all and so happy to find this site.

5 Comments »

Hello world!

Posted on June 25th, 2015 by sambucaro

Welcome to AchillesBlog.com.

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  • Recent Comments

  • Linda | September 17th, 2015 | 4:42 pm

    It has been 18 months since full rupture for me, no op and have been told after 1 year, yes it has healed in a lengthened position and an op is an option, i knew something wasnt right at 3-4 months.

  • Brad | July 5th, 2015 | 6:45 pm

    Hi Stuart - Thanks for the advise and feedback. I have been doing the 2 up one down straight knee 3 x 15 then bent knee 3 x 15 For say 3 weeks now and plan to continue. Prior to that, I was doing two heel raises and trying to do one leg raise by supporting some body weight on a bar. When not fatigued, I can walk a few steps on my toes, but injured side is very close to the floor with knee bent.

    The progress from week to week for lifting the injured heel seems unnoticeable and so it causes me to wonder if I will ever return to normal. Trying to be patient. It has been 7 mos 1 wk from injury. I have read TomTom’s blog start to finish and other comments about healing long and that has influenced me to think that only surgery will correct this. Would rather avoid surgery.

    First appointment with new PT 2 weeks ago. At my urging, he pushed against both feet and thought the dorsi was about the same in both. I road biked about 45 km today and came back fatigued.
    Any further comments would be appreciated.
    I plan to read more of Norm’s blog and look for advise there as well.
    Brad

  • Stuart | July 5th, 2015 | 3:23 pm

    Brad - some of what you have described could indicate you have healed long. You are only 8 months out so other things like the fatigue and push off could still be apparent and strength will coninture to return over the next 4 or more months. Flexion after the injury is possible with the use of other muscles. Increased dorsi flexion is an indicator of healing long but it is hard to tell without accurate measurement. I would not bother seeing a doc about it until you have past the 12 months and only then if it is a bother to you. A physiotherapist would also help and can measure. You could try some eccentric strengthening exercises. Go up on your good leg and then and then shift the weight onto the injured side and come down slowly. Do this straight knee and bent knee as they work different muscles. You can add weight as you improve with a small back pack and tins of food or you could pay money and use fancy machines in a gym. Healing long is common with the injury and it only takes a small amount to be noticeable. Visit Normofthenorth’s page (see left column on main page or Ctrl - F and search) and ask some questions there

    [...]
  • Brad | July 4th, 2015 | 8:01 pm

    Hi folks,
    I ruptured my left Achilles 1 Dec 2014 and turned 50 the next month. I am hoping you folks will comment on if my Achilles healed long and or if my progress to date is reasonable. I weigh 185 lbs and exercise regularly, but no jogging or high impact training since injury.

    Non-operative treatment started night of injury…cast for two weeks. Then boot for 6 weeks.
    Seven months post injury and I can barely get my heal off the floor using injured leg only (keeping leg straight) Using momentum and bending leg, I can raise the heel an inch or more.

    The dorsiflexion is about the same in both, maybe a tiny bit more on injured left. There is Achilles scar tissue about 1.5 inches long at ankle height and a lump is noticeable during dorsiflexion. While standing up and pushing against both Achilles, the injured side has more movement. When not relaxed, both Achilles feel tight.
    The ortho called the ATR a full rupture and about a 5 mm divot was noticeable in the Achilles. Both dorsi and plantarflexion were possible right after ATR.

    I can walk a few miles without limping, but I feel the reduced push-off power on inju

    [...]
  • Stuart | June 28th, 2015 | 2:53 pm

    Healing long is common enough with the injury to be noted in journals. Many people do not find it too much of a problem with their lifestyle and learn to live with it. No amount of training will fix it. The only way to find out for sure is to have your doctor examine you and if it is impacting on your life then you will need to have it surgically repaired.

  • xplora | June 25th, 2015 | 5:24 pm

    Would agree with Eric on this and add the only way to fix it is go back in and have it surgically shortened. It would mean a start over. Not the best of news but no sense beating around the bush.

  • ericm | June 25th, 2015 | 11:48 am

    Unfortunately sometimes tendons can “heal long.” Your calf can only contract so far, so if the tendon is long you never really get full tension. Put tomtom in the search box for more information. You can start with the post on 7/8/2009. He may want to contact his original Dr or a specialist (i.e. podiatrist or orthopedic Dr.). Good luck.

  • Mr WordPress | June 25th, 2015 | 10:41 am

    Hi, this is a comment.
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