simplesanj’s AchillesBlog

At twenty-six weeks, headed back in for a surf amidst smaller (knee-waist high) surf. The leg is functional enough for surf purposes; it’s my front foot, I might have noticed it more otherwise. I’ve felt capable of surfing for a few weeks, but the PT wanted me to hold off until I gained a bit more strength. My conditioning is off — I tired quickly — and I was rusty, but overall it went better than I expected. I even caught a few.

Speaking of which, I’ve very gradually gained back a bit of calf strength; I can manage to sort of walk on my toes. The next piece of the physical-therapy progression is a variety of little hops, jumps, and skips. That’ll occupy the next month, at least — with something resembling normal functionality on the horizon, I’m told.

I’m also planning to give a few of the regular Crossfit workouts a shot in the upcoming two weeks, modified to remove all the running and jumping, and anything that might involve landing from a height (rope climbs, e.g.).

A brief recap of the third and fourth months, during which life has assumed its normal shape in most ways, but I’m not yet back to sports.

Rehab: For most of this, it’s been a combination of regaining mobility, trying to build strength, and working to get my balance back in the bad leg. The pool was a substantial boon; walking, running, calf raises, all doable in water, even before I could come close on dry land (and I’m quite light, I’d imagine the benefits would be more significant if I were larger). Physical therapy about once a week, give or take. The mobility came back quickly; I chose to continue sleeping in the boot, so as to avoid having my toe pointed all night, and that really helped. At some point that got old, and I invested in a sock that basically does the same thing (designed for plantar fasciatis). Strength has taken much, much longer. Still waiting on a one-legged calf-raise at four months.

Life: Month three remained awkward. Walking long distances (more than a mile at a time, or more than 4 miles in a day) was uncomfortable, my gait was uneven, stairs were slow. The fourth month, though, saw things move relatively rapidly towards pre-injury normal. I could drive a stick comfortably by the end of week 12 (using my injured leg on the clutch), and started biking again (both alone and on a large cargo-bike with my daughter, groceries etc. on the back) in week 15 (that could have happened earlier, but I chose to be cautious with the possibility of a weighted fall). By week 16, most everything in terms of house and work and so forth were more or less normal.

Sports: Essentially, I can neither run nor jump — so sports, not happening in any meaningful fashion. Because I can’t pop-up with much strength (that is, I can only slowly step to my feet), I’m still not surfing. And because box-jumps, burpees, running, and any sort of split-lift won’t work, I haven’t rejoined Crossfit workouts. Basic strength-training is fine, though, at least so long as I’m flat-footed. Squats, strict presses, bench presses, deadlifts, pull-ups, pushups, sit-ups — all fine. And I’m swimming for conditioning. My hope is that the next two months will — finally — allow me to move back into a normal routine of Crossfit (modified to avoid double-unders and box-jumps, for a while at least) and surfing.

Two more weeks down. A visit to the surgeon confirmed that things are more or less on track. I’m essentially free to — very gradually — get back to regular activities, with the warning that the tendon won’t be 100% healed for another 9 months. I’m walking about a mile with minimal discomfort, though I’m still slow and a bit stiff-legged in the evenings.

A few observations as to the last two weeks: as have others, I found pool-walking massively helpful. I’ve also continued to use the boot while sleeping — that’s avoided morning stiffness (as my foot remains in neutral overnight rather than plantar-flexed) at the cost of some continued discomfort (but I’m pretty much used to sleeping with the boot).

Life-wise, things are approaching normal. I can walk to and from the train station (albeit not at great speed) and should be able to drive our manual transmission relatively soon. Walking barefoot in the house feels fine, as does most any kind of footwear. I haven’t gotten back on my bicycle, mostly because it seems like a terrible time to risk even a minor fall, but reckon I’ll probably give that a go soon.

Sport-wise, I’m still a long way off. My PT is focusing on getting some flexion back, strengthening my calf, and balance. Meanwhile, I’m slowly introducing a little more at the gym: deadlifts, strict presses, and kettlebell swings — all of which I can do standing on two feet, without flexing my ankles or pushing off on my feet. I’m hoping to start swimming in the next 10 days, too, so as to start getting back into surfing shape.

I’ve started walking about a bit without the boot. There’s a heel-raise in my left (injured) shoe, and the PT has me using a crutch to normalize my gait a bit. In crowded and uncertain areas (the train to work, e.g.), I’ll still be using the boot. Technically, this is progress; but the length of the recovery is much more obvious now that I can feel exactly how weak and stiff the repaired leg is.

Recovery-wise, I’m starting to think about getting some fitness back so that I can start surfing and so forth when the leg is up for it. With the help of the trainers at my gym, I’ve worked out an upper-body program to start working myself back into fitness. This is a Crossfit gym, so not equipped with a bunch of machines. Here’s a quick list of the things that seem do-able without one leg, using the stuff one might find at a basic Crossfit facility:

Bench-press (at low enough weights to leave the legs mostly idle)
Strict pull-ups (on a bar that can be reached standing up, with legs tucked)
Ring-Dips (same set-up, rings dropped down so that one can enter or exit standing up, legs curled to dip).
Push-ups (with bad leg crossed over the good one)
Planks (same thing — legs crossed)
Seated or kneeling dumb-bell exercises (press, fly, row, lateral and front shoulder-raises, e.g.)
Sit-ups
Russian twists w/ kettle bell
Banded tricep extensions, face pulls

That stuff can be stitched together into little sets of a few minutes. I’m doing them with the boot on for now, as much as a reminder not to be stupid as anything else. Not nearly as rewarding as a regular workout, but better than nothing. Doing a bit of interval training on the stationary bikes for conditioning. Hardly fun, but at least it’s a start on the road back.

The progression to full weight bearing in the boot went well enough, so I’ve set the crutches aside. That’s let me spend significantly more time on my feet, without much in the way of adverse effects (touch wood). I’ve got a cane, but haven’t needed it much (aside from signaling disability on the train).

The next two weeks will, I hope, see the removal of the heel wedges to put me at neutral. The first one is out and I barely noticed. Guessing I’ll notice the last one, though, because I can’t flex my foot to neutral unassisted.

And I had my second post-op visit last week. The surgeon seemed pleased enough. He confirmed the trajectory from here, more or less: at 8 weeks, the boot comes off (aside from uncontrolled or crowded environments). At 12 weeks, most of the restrictions should be off — and I can start working to regain strength, mobility and balance in earnest. So half-way to that.

It seems at least feasible, now that I’m without crutches, to resume some non-trivial physical activity. The therapist (new and improved) seems to want me to restrict my lower body work to the exercise bike and light theraband work. But I’m going to talk to the folks at my gym about figuring out something more strenuous with the stuff above my waist (it’s a Crossfit affiliate, and there isn’t much I could do there without being able to carry weights about — something I should be able to do now, at least in minimal fashion).