sporti’s AchillesBlog

My blog has now caught up to speed and joins me here live in my 3rd week post injury/operation.  I returned to the local doctor that has taken up my case at home in Cleveland to have my stitches removed.  Aside from the odd feeling of the stitches actually sliding out of my foot, the process was pretty simple.  Already being FWB, I walked into the office accompanied by my wife so we could both ask questions and grab lunch afterward.  We verified with the doctor that once again, as long as the foot was securely in my boot, he encouraged me to continue to walk about but not to go too far as to get fatigued because that’s when other things go wrong and accidents happen, such as hyperextending my knee.

I began wearing my Fitbit One again after keeping it pretty much dormant over the winter.  I’m so used to it now, I can pretty accurately guess how many steps I’ve taken at any point during any given day.  While my old goals used to be aggressive at 15,000 steps daily with ±2hrs of very active time, I am now monitoring my steps for the opposite reason, so as to limit overdoing it.  I have found that when I’m in the 3,500-4,000 step range, my leg is getting fatigued and the heel is sore.  I’ll then give it a rest by using the knee scooter or sitting down with my feet up, taking the boot off and gently flexing toes and gentle ROM movements since I haven’t been to PT yet.

There was nothing thus far in my process that I looked forward to more than meeting my PT getting to know the most important person that will help me in the recovery process.  I was excited for the day.  Yesterday, at 3wks, 1 day post op, I met Paul.  Any fear of having to visit a few different facilities evaporated after the first 15 minutes.  This guy knows his stuff and has numerous accreditations in physical therapy, including my favorite - ART (Active Release Techniques), and over 25 yrs experience.  He’s completely up to date on the latest protocols, most of which I’ve learned through achillesblog members!  He did the standard ROM and push, pull tests and then began to actively knead and work both the achilles and then my calf.  If I wasn’t so accustomed to visiting my regular chiropractic physician who specializes in ART, I would have been in tears.  Instead I was cherishing the feeling of getting those areas worked on and feeling the blood flowing freely through the repaired achilles and calf muscles.  He followed up with the low voltage stim and some ice and gave me some exercises to gently stretch the foot back and release, over and over about 40 times.  I peppered him with questions, which he gladly answered in great detail.  He and I were on the same page.  It’s a long road, but I am thrilled that by having essentially no pain, and being able to walk around freely in the boot at an early stage, I have effectively curbed the atrophy in my calf and thigh.  He reiterated the basic rule of thumb for PT, that for every week of immobilization, add another 4-6 weeks of rehab.  Here’s a snapshot of my movement today (video).

I’ll start attending PT twice a week, and fully understand that I’m still extremely early on in this process.  My solid progress to date notwithstanding, baby steps - in fact I am extremely cautious with everything I do, including how and where I step, I’m in no hurry to get out of the boot.  Overall, I’m in NO hurry to do anything!

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