spin/yoga instructor in DC area snowboarding ATR

Keeping your skin clean means you’re doing what other acne-sufferers have failed to do from the beginning preventive measures to eliminate the need for a cure. To clean the skin means you have to consistently wash it with water or other mild formulas every morning and evening. As the 21st century atmosphere proved to be one extreme polluted place, impurities like dust and smoke that make its method to your skin may lead for the skin pores blocked, which then gives birth to the pimple surfacing.

Sounds great, S! Don’t stop!! Hope to see you on the slopes, too. (You’re not going to be in Whistler the week of April 11, by any chance?)

MMM, this may not be the best place to have this discussion, since the post and the earlier comments are all ~7 months old, and some of these folks may not still be on this “conveyor belt” we call AchillesBlog.com!

I’ve never been half the runner you are — I’ve only run a timed mile once, and a 12-minute run a couple of times. The mile took 6:35 (and I thought I was going to throw up and die!), so my hat’s off to you under 5:00!

But I play pretty aggressive and competitive volleyball, and I’m also pretty solid at squash and tennis and badminton, and all of those activities are very “AT-intensive”. I’m on my second ATR now (both torn by volleyball), but you should know that my functional recovery from the first was absolutely 100%. I think it was around 10 months before I went back to volleyball, but I quickly forgot about the AT and regained or exceeded my level of play before the ATR. I’ve seen many blogs here from people who say that their AT was stronger after they healed up, and that was my experience, too.

In fact, when people asked me if I wasn’t nervous about re-rupturing that AT, I always gave the same answer: The

Hi,
That’s great news! I am five weeks out from surgery and getting into a boot this coming Monday. I am a serious runner so when my surgeon’s PA told me that I might eventually be able to “jog”, it broke my heart! When I run, I mean run…which means sub-five minute mile pace. I’ve done that for 30 years fo my life, so the thought of having to become a “jogger” doesn’t sit well with me at all. I am hoping that your situation is one of temporary “jogging” with being able to “run” later. Is there anyone else out there who has come back from this injury to do speedwork and competitive (sub-40 min.) 10K’s? I’m trying to stay hopeful but it’s hard to see all my friends going to fun races and I’m having to be a couch potato Best of luck! MM

Happy Anniversary.

The one year mark is quite a milestone. Congratulations!

Way to go!!

I hope to have my level of activity back someday.
You’ve shown us through the pictures that it is possible.
Thanks for sharing.
Good Luck to you.

Shinebox,

I was wondering if you decided to have the surgery and if so what happened.

I have a similar situation. I was born with severe clubbed feet and had multiple reconstructive surgeries on both bone and tendon when I was a baby. Last year I tore my achilles tendon while hiking with my sons boyscout troop. I am also 37 with three boys and at that time was the leader of there boy scout troop and cub scout pack. One surgeon told me my tendon was mush and not to have surgery, while another surgeon told me surgery would be no problem and I would be fine. I had the surgery and a year and two months later my leg is still swollen and red and very painful. I went to see a specialist last week who told me that the first surgeon was correct and that my tendon is now tearing somewhere else and needs to be replaced. They want to do an Achilles tendon debridement with an FHL tendon transfer. I have read both good and back things about this. She says that I do not have to have the surgery but eventually it will tear all the way again and I will have no choice. So far online I have not found any posts from people who have had the surge

Nice to hear from you, Anders the Swede! I am doing even better than the last time I wrote. I spent the last two weeks in Park City, Utah, doing a lot of tough technical mountain biking and long hikes, as well as yoga. My achilles held up on steep climbs and after all of the many falls off of my bike. I have also been running more and my achilles lasts longer than my bum knee. My incision is less red but still not completely flesh colored and still gets irritated after a long time in sneakers, hiking boots, or bike shoes. But I haven’t really had any swelling to speak of. I’m still stretching as much as possible and icing at least once a day after my workouts. I have no limp at all at this point. I am planning to be snowboarding in December, but I definitely want to get new stiffer boots. How are you doing?

Stacy

Hey there. Good to hear u’re on your way back and to be back on the slopes early coming season. Got interested in your rupture since I also did it in the mountains and almost at the same time. I’m also approx your age and very active so it would be interesting to hear about your progress. Furthermore I also had an infection in my scar that set me back some in the rehab. And I also at the moment do a lot of biking. Both on my road racer and on my mtb.
I had a very violent rupture when crashing on skis down a mountain in Austrian backcountry (I’m a Swede living in Central Europe). Tore my calf muscle and, a lot more serious, my achilles. They had to open me up 17 cm to even know where to start stiching the tendon up. Turned out they had to do it very high up, almost up in the calf muscle.
But enough of that. Good to hear someone else very active and even having started jogging. I’m used to doing about 7-8 hours every week. Mostly trail running before the rupture but now a lot of biking and roller-skiing (am a Swede after all so gotta keep the cross country skiing going). But haven’t dared to go jogging yet.
Good to here u felt ok

Shinebox,

It is terrible what happened to you.

I heard of another method: there is some sort of artificial tendon that can be built in.
It was done for a lady in Montreal.

Shinebox: There is a guy at my church that had that experience. He now walks around in tight cowboy boots (Cowboy boots are common where I live) and has a slght limp. He stopped at 5 surgeries and decided to live with whatever he had after that.

I am so sorry this is happening to you. Hang in there.

I happen to be one of those people walking around WITHOUT an achilles tendon. I developed what looked to be a blister about the size of a dime along the incision at about 9 weeks post-op after ATR. The blister had some discharge but apparently it wasn’t enough of a concern for my Physical Therapist to send me back to my Ortho. The blister seemed to improve until about week 12 post-op when the blister re-appeared with a vengeance. It became red around the blister and warm to the touch. I developed a low grade temperature and made an appt. with my Ortho. He sent me into surgery the same day for a debridement or “wash out”. After the procedure he told me that his original repair “looked good” and that the cultures taken from the area would be sent to infectious diseases lab for analysis. I began heavy antibiotics through IV and spent 4 days in the hospital. Lab results returned showing staph infection. Doc sent me home on antibiotics. The day I went home the wound site opened up again in the exact same area of the blister. Doc said that was to be expected and that it needed to heal from the inside out. 2 weeks later I was referred to a

i think that at 12.5 weeks post-op, the risk of infection would be pretty low. unless for some reason they had to include any metal in your surgery (which i haven’t heard of from ATRs).

Sounds like the tendon is inflammed and icing, elevation, rest and potentially inflammation drugs would all help.

The only basis on which they suspect infection is that my incision was red and inflamed. The incision is completely healed except for a small scab that is healing fine. I am 12.5 weeks post-surgery, by the way.

hi sehrlich:

if your blood work was all normal, what basis does your doctor have that this is an infection? i had a similar case and the doctor ordered three types of blood test (white blood count tests) and concluded that it was not an infection after the results came back.

currently my incision does get red and more inflamed as the day progresses. this is “normal” for some people. for me, i take off my boot when sleeping and my foot returns to a plantar flexion angle of about 45 degrees. in the morning when i try and put on my boot, it take about 2 mins of adjusting, putting weight on my foot and adjusting again to stretch the tendon to 90 degrees.

so i attribute the redness and inflammation to the stretching of my tendon during the day which i hope one day will go away. if not, i might have to start sleeping with my boot on.

serlich –

Oh no — I’m so sorry that you may have to have a PICC line if things don’t get better. I had some bad reactions to the antibiotics at the IV stage too and had to counteract them with double doses of Benadryl. They made me sleepy the entire day that I took more medical leave for my IV treatment than I did my ATR surgeries.

The activity placed on my ankle had a direct effect on my swelling and redness. I would take me an entire day to recover from a previous day of PT or more-than-usual walking. My ID doctor said that the ankle is one of the most difficult places to heal. He placed me on diuretics and potassium to control the swelling AND ordered me to stay off my feet when possible, thus having another reason to extend my medical leave.

Has the ID doctor gone beyond blood tests and taken a culture from your wound? Are you keeping it dry?

Hang in there with this infection thing . . .
~booklady
http://achillesblog.com/booklady/

Hello sehrilch, one of my co-worker’s spouses had an ATR about 3 years ago. Things were going okay, until he was at about 12 weeks post-op and went in for a check up and his ortho said let’s keep a cast on for two more weeks, and then again two more weeks. Well come to find out he had a SERIOUS infection where his incision was. He spent a week in the hospital, and was kept in restriction so the infection would not spread. They had to go in and “clean out” the infection, and in the end removed his achilles, because it was now beyond repair. He no longer has an achilles. His ortho specialist said many people function without them.

Just reading your entry and I think I may be in the same boat as you. I’ve been pain-free since Day 2 of surgery. Now 19 days later, there is pain right along my incision, especially towards the bottom-half. It’s a bit red and puffy.

However, I also just took out my last insert in my boot and wondering if this could be the reason why it’s puffy and red.

Hi sehrlich: I am going through a similar situation as yours and posted a longer reply to you which is probably awaiting your approval on your dashboard under “edit comments”. Hang in there — allowing the antibiotics to take its course is a test of patience. Take care!

Hi Sehrlich,

I would definitely make sure that it is an infection and not just scar tissue. In my case, I also had (have) two small lumps (which are dark) on either side of my incision towards the bottom of my incision. The problem I had was that a bit of the suture was still left inadvertantly at this site and was only removed after 10 weeks post-op. I now find (11 weeks post-op) that this lump is slowly reducing in size with deep massage.

Hi serlich —

Your story sounds similar to mine, and your PT’s worst case scenario did just happen to me as late as last Friday.

I too did have a portion of my wound that did not heal at 11 weeks post op and infection treatment by my ortho needed the additional attention of an ID specialist. I had a rare staph infection that turned into osteomyletis (bone infection). This required an aggressive regimen of a twice daily, two-hour long intravenous drip of vancomycin. I’ve had a PICC line in my arm for the past six weeks and have had a home nurse assigned to me.

As the bone infection was treated, I also developed pseudomonas aeruginosa and was changed to the cefepime antibiotic, still via IV. I’ve had weekly cultures and blood tests and my share of bone scans and MRIs, and I’m glad to say that both infections have cleared.

My ortho suspected that have had a reaction to the non-absorbing sutures on my tendon and went in last week for debridement surgery to remove those stitches and to clean up the bad tissue. I am again in a cast and hope to see my wound again next Monday at my 10-day post-op visit.

My IV treatments have be

Hi Serhlick,

I’m 8 months Post OP. When I went back into shoes, I felt like I was over stepping with the involved foot. I think this bad habbit came from the boot I wore for two weeks. Plus you tend to favor the involved foot. Rehab should help with that. Keep up the excercises they give you. Swelling will also be present. Elevate foot as much as possible for the first few weeks. Ice it when needed.

Good Luck

Glen

Hey there!

I live in Denver area and snowboard all the time, I am 13 weeks post op, wont be able to snowboard until next season, I was stunned to hear you did it snowboarding. I would think that with the boots it would prevent your achilles from pulling. Sorry to hear. You will be all healed up and able to get back at em next season. I have heard from others that have had the injury and have been fine snowboarding or skiing the following season.

Hi there,
Welcome to the club.
FYI I learned how to snowboard at Brighton while I was visiting corporate headquarter in Provo.

Unlike you I injured myself playing basketball.

I riding my bike with a wind trainer for 2 weeks now. I also still have a boot on.

I am also doing lite weight training.

I so understand what you are going through being an active person and trying to keep some type of workout going.

A word of caution is to dont go overboard. I am sure you know this. Let your body dictate what you should be doing. There are too many stories of reinjury on here.

I wish you well and speed recovery.
If I can help you in any way please give me a shout.

Jim

I started riding the stationary bike clipped in to the pedals in PT week 2 which was 6 weeks post op. It is part of all of my PT sessions since.

Good luck with your recovery, I know it is even more difficult for people like us who are extremely active.

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