2 Weeks Post Op
I finally got tired of trolling everyones great blogs and decided to jump on the site, hopefully in a year Ill be posting my 1 year post op and it will encourage someone like everyone else’s has encouraged me.
As for me I am Active Duty Army stationed in San Antonio on a desk job after 3 Iraq deployments. On May 7th I was at the local playground playing some Basketball, jumped for a rebound and got the text book “pop”. Being a huge basketball fan and reading all about Kobe’s experience I knew right away what happened. There was no pain but the back of my legs was mush.
Had surgery on 14 May 2013 and was sent home in a cast with my toe pointed down im guessing around 30 degrees. Those 2 days after the surgery were the most painful. When the nerve block wore off it was just horrible. The stinging and throbbing was ridiculous.
My 1st pre-op appointment was on 24 May 2013, during this visit my Dr removed my stitches and said the would was healing great. My foot was a lil swollen and black and blue but he said everything was looking good. He then put me in the standard black boot with a 2 CM heel lift. I could def feel the tendon stretching the 1st day in the boot. I hadnt read anyone else being this aggressive but we shall see how I turn out. I am NWB till Week 4 where I start PWB. I have started doing some Push ups and Situps in my living room to get the blood pumping!
I did read great things about these vacocast boots and ordered one from a fello ATR success story in MA. That will be here Friday. I will post some pics of my legs and such once I get a grasp on this blog!
on May 30th, 2013 at 2:12 am
Welcome! Sorry to hear about your injury but it sounds like you are off to a good start. I’m going non-op and have been NWB for the last four weeks. There are lots of surgical repair patients here–I’m sure someone will chime in on your time line. I think early weight bearing is pretty optimal though.
Looking forward to reading about your progress.
on May 30th, 2013 at 2:22 am
SFCE, I’m not sure which part of your rehab you think is unusually “aggressive”. All 150 patients in the UWO study (half surgical, half non-op) started out NWB as you did, but graduated to PWB in only 2 weeks (in a boot with 2cm of heel lifts, like you), then FWB in only 4 weeks. Both of those progressions are faster than yours. If you felt an “aggressive” stretch in your leg, it’s probably because you — unlike the UWO-study patients — were initially immobilized in a more extreme plantar-flexed position than they were, then you had to “stretch” to get to the 2cm-heel-lift angle.
When patients in boots make the transitions from more plantarflexion to less (like removing heel wedges), I usually recommend that they make the switch at bedtime, and sleep in the boot. That way the ankle has ~8 hours UNweighted to get used to the “stretch” of the angle change before it’s loaded up with the next day’s PWB or FWB. . . That seems much less scary to me than doing both simultaneously.
on May 30th, 2013 at 2:39 am
@Norm: Another great tip re: the transitions. Thanks!
on May 30th, 2013 at 9:51 am
SFCE - what are your thoughts about (eventually) returning to basketball? It would be tough for me to give it up, but the prospect of going through another ATR is a pretty huge disincentive.
on May 30th, 2013 at 10:17 am
Back in 2007 I was playing football and was sprinting and heard the infamous “pop” except that time it was my Hamstring tearing off the bone. The back of my leg was completely black and the pain was intense. I couldnt walk properly for a good 4 months. During that time I had said im never doing that again. Well that same year I was back at it, once I had built the confidence back, so im sure this will be the same. Im just so damn anxious to start with the rehab.