Heel Raises: 8.5 Month Update

It’s been a mixed bag the last 1+ month since my last update.  The good news is that I am definitely stronger in my calf, and can now more or less do a full heel raise.  I still can’t quite extend as high as on the right, but it’s close enough that I’ll call it a heel raise, and the more important news is that I continue to make slow but steady progress.  I can see quite clearly that my calf definition has increased since last month, but it still seems to be more or less the same in terms of girth (about 1.25" less than my right).  My PT says that I shouldn’t worry about it as long as I’m making functional and strength gains, and that the girth should come back in time.

The negative news for the last couple of weeks is that I did something to my right (non-recovering) achilles.  After a challenging and exhausting (but successful) 3 day backpacking trip, I decided it was a good idea to play in the local Monday night bball pickup game instead of resting.  This turned out to be ill-advised, as I was sluggish on the court, and ended up kind of tweaking my right achilles.  It is something I’ve done in the past maybe a half dozen times, and always eventually gets better, and doesn’t limit me too much (I’ve always just worked through it) but obviously I’m incredibly cautious now.  Immediately afterwards I got a horrible cold, so those two things sidelined me for the better part of 2 weeks, which was probably a good thing as it forced me to rest my body.  I actually didn’t do anything physical for a good two weeks during that time.

By the time I went to PT a couple weeks later, it had basically gone away, and she didn’t see any signs of serious injury, but said that I likely just strained it a bit, and gave me some dynamic warm-up exercises to do, along with daily heel drops and scraping for both achilles.  The specific heel drop exercise she is having me do for this is different than typical, in that it isn’t for strength, but for limberness I guess.  She is having me do 3 sets of 20 every morning where I start with both heels level hanging off a step, and then let them completely drop, then back up and repeat.  So for this exercise I am deliberately not controlling the downward motion and just letting my heels kind of free-fall.  I’m curious if anyone else has had their PT prescribe this exercise.  I’ve also been scraping, and have started getting back into my agility court drills and strengthening, but unfortunately once I did some of the symptoms have come back (mild tightness and soreness in that achilles).

I’m going to proceed with caution on the court drills for now, at least until I see my PT again on Wednesday.

My achievements since last time are:

• I can now do close to a full heel raise - I’d say maybe 3 at 80-90% of full height vs. the right, and am noticeably stronger for that exercise.
• I can see more calf definition on the left side.
• I completed a 3 day, 18 or so mile backpacking trip in Never Summer Wilderness (lots of elevation gain).  I was certainly tired and even a bit limpy at the end of each day, but 90% of each day I felt more or less 100%.
• I hiked a couple 14000′ peaks here in Colorado (Grays/Torreys - right next to one another) something I had never done before.
• I’ve started playing pickup bball again (just half court so far due to numbers) although have had to back off due to the issue with my right achilles.  Still, when I played, I wasn’t horribly limited.  The main things I noticed were less quickness on D, and on first steps to the basket.

I have a surf trip coming up in a few weeks, which will be an interesting test.  I was never a good surfer to begin with when I lived in CA, and now that I’m land locked, my rustiness combined with lack of skill will probably be a bigger factor than my achilles, but regardless it will be nice to get out in the water.  I also have a tentative Denver city bike tour planned with my wife, but we are a bit on the fence about it, so we’ll see.  The other big test coming up is skiing.  I’m actually less concerned about any ill-effect to my ability from the injury as much as how my boots will fit.

I’ll go ahead and post my current recovery schedule, which has changed a little bit since last month.

General:

• 2-3 days calf raises and balance (2x per day)
• 2-3 days bball, ladder drills, and jumping
• 2x per month add pool workout (haven’t been able to do yet)
• 1-3 days rest
• 2 days yoga/stretch
• Pre-bball dynamic warmup routine

*not as important

Weekly Schedule:
Mon: BBall - pickup
Tue: Rest, stretch
Wed: Calf raises/balance #1, bike/hike (about 1 hr), yoga
Thu: bball/ladder/jumps #2
Fri: Rest OR Calf raises/balance #2, bike/hike (1 hr)
Sat: bike/hike, and/or bball/ladder/jumps #2 or #3
Sun: bike/hike, and/or Calf raises/balance #3

Calf Raises (2x/day 2-3 days/ wk):

• 1-3 sets x20, 2 footed standing (last 10 lowered 1 footed assisted)
• 1 set 1 footed non-assisted standing (goal: 25 reps of 50-75% each side)
• 1-3 sets x6-8, 1 footed assisted standing
• 2 sets x20, 2 footed standing toes in/toes out
• 3 sets x5, 2 footed standing to bent knee 5 second hold (use weights), try wide legged
• *4 sets x8, 1 footed sitting (50lbs)

Balance:

• *10-20x walking forward leaning lunges (use weights and/or crouch)
• 1 set ea. way x 5 ft balls of feet side walk
• 1 set x10 balance board 1 foot f/b
• 1 set x10 balance board 2 foot s/s
• balance board foot roll
• *4-6 various standing exercises, 1 foot with weight shifts

Ladder Drills/Jumps:

• runners drill - step up to platform (3×10)
• *cross stepping 2 laps ~20ft (80ft total)
• *quick steps 2 laps ~20ft (80ft total)
• 1 foot single jump compare (11” diff 9/2)
• 1 foot triple jump compare (27.5” diff 9/2)
• 1-2x full court suicide (work up to full speed)
• 1x full court defense sliding (work up to full speed)
• diagonal 1 foot hops 4 laps ~20ft (80ft total)
• 10x two foot jumps with soft landing
• 5x one foot vertical jumps (each foot)
• 10x layup lines
• 2-3 x 30 seconds side-side hops

Bball: 30-60 mins w/jumping and moving, and running full court
Heel Drops: As described above, 3×20 each morning.
Other:  scraping/calf massage most nights, ice/elevation as needed, stretching (do knee towards wall), tennis ball under foot all day

For those of you in the early stages, please stay optimistic, and remember that long term you’ll be able to do everything that you love to do, it just takes time.  I looked at some pictures with my wife over the last 6 months or so, and it’s amazing how far I’ve come in that time, and even since posting only every month or so, it has been encouraging for me to read the previous month’s post and see that I am still moving forward.  Keep up the hard work everyone!