“Two shoes” still feels weird…
I’ll admit, it feels weird to walk around in two shoes. I’m not necessarily talking about the fat tendon of my left leg just squeezing in to my shoes, I think I’m more feeling that I’ve been without the second shoe for so long that it doesn’t feel normal. First, I had to find my other shoe. Than I had to clean my right shoe as it’s had 6 weeks of use without its bud. Then I had to pair up all my socks again, I’d been wearing just a compression sock on my left leg for 11 weeks.
I started walking around in both shoes last Friday, I guess for my profile I left it at that day even though I’d been walking barefoot for about two weeks before that. Semantics I know, but I want accuracy. :)
Tomorrow will make 12 weeks since my ATR surgery and I have a few milestones. I did my first allowed physical strength physical therapy session on Tuesday. I was able to push the upgraded clutch of my car (Subaru Legacy GT) twice today, that’s cool, and I’ll soon be driving that again. The initial push was easy, but to get it all the way to floor with extension of the toes took a lot of concentration. I was also able to do a whopping two sets of two single-leg heel raises on the left today. I hadn’t tried these at all just out of paranoia, but I first tried it on a flat surface and was amazed that I could lift my left heel a good deal above the ground, a whole two times, and the second one wasn’t very pretty. So then I went to a step and did two there, I noticed that my heel-raise strength when dropping my foot below parallel is nearly non-existent, which makes sense as that range of motion has been just recently attained. EDIT: My doc told me throughout this to be my own best clinical advisor. Even though the 1 leg heel raises can be done, and the clutch can be pushed in, it doesn’t necessarily feel like something I “should” be doing… I’m in no rush and am happy to keep doing the double heel raises and driving an automatic for a few more weeks.
As far as range of motion goes, my physical therapist says “angle-wise” that I have enough flexibility in my foot for running, which would be hilarious to see, and doesn’t explain why I still limp while walking. The limp is most prevalent if my foot and leg are cold, or if my calf is simply tired, which it gets easily. When warm and loosened up the limp is nearly gone, which is amazing to me as well, but I’ve been accentuating pushing off on my toes on the injured leg since walking barefoot. Up and down stairs feels good, and more normal than walking.
The past pain along my posterior tibialis I had from a loose ATF ligament has not returned as of yet, that’s very nice. It would be nice if it never returned, but that would be an ideal scenario. I still haven’t figured out what to do about surgery for that. If it returns it will have to be fixed. I don’t necessarily want to do one recovery and then start another. I also don’t want to necessarily completely trash my calf, the ATR gave it a hard hit already. Overall it’s nice to have both shoes on again. Admittedly my VacoCast boot almost made it too easy to have that security blanket. I could work normal and FAST with that boot, it was mentally difficult to put both shoes on and take two steps back, so to speak.
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Ya, 2 shoes is a bitter-sweet victory, because almost all of us slow way down when it starts. Losing the crutches is almost 100% pure joy; losing the boot is much more mixed.
Me, I’d vote FOR paranoia re 1-leg heel raises at this stage in your recovery. Splitting your weight equally between both feet sounds aggressive enough to me. The risk from delaying is that you’ll lose a week or two; the risk from rushing is that you’ll lose a month (as I did!), or heal long… You do the math!
I’m all for high speed for WB, early exercise, PT, etc., but dorsiflexion and heavy-duty strength work should be approached very gradually and with caution, IMHO, because it’s too easy to heal long.
I concur with Norm. What I would say is, don’t get hung up on certain exercises.
Norm is a great example … crappy one leg heel raises, but can jump and spike in volleyball. I can do a few good one leg heel raises, but no chance I’m spiking a volleyball just yet.
Remember, slow and steady wins the race, though its not a race even if some people seem to act like it is.
First thing you should be doing in my opinion is working on your walk. If you’re limping you need to get that sorted. A bit of dedication and you’ll have it sorted in no time. Once you do that, build up your exercises week by week and do them little and often and before you know it you’ll be back to some sense of normality before you know it!
Hey guys, I totally agree… I was going to edit my post to say my doc told me throughout this to be my own best clinical advisor. Even though the 1 leg heel raises can be done, and the clutch can be pushed in, it doesn’t necessarily feel like something I “should” be doing… I’m in no rush and am happy to keep doing the double heel raises and driving an automatic for a few more weeks.
I’ve always had the “problem” when playing sports of muscle strength being gained quickly, but then tendon problems from them not keeping up, I need to remember that and take it slow.
I think the limp is a product of tightening up, if I ride the bike or warm my leg up, then the limp is nearly gone. But don’t do that and there’s definitely tightness that causes a limp, and it seems to get tight really easy… Any suggestions on keeping it loosened up?
Hello World. I come off my boot tomorrow. I am nervous. I have been walking around without my boot because of the pressure that the boot puts on the back of my heel. My range of motion is GREAT, until I have to go down the stairs. I get nervous like it could pop again, but I am sure that is mental.
I fell several times on my crutches and had to go back to surgeon to see if I re-tore my tendon because of the immediate pain and swelling but I think I stretch it out enough with falling that I may not have to do much PT. I know that sounds awful. Well it was. So it’s week 13, boot comes off and I am wondering should I wear high top shoes for ankle support or will I be alright in my regular low top shoes.
Any advice?
I didn’t wear high tops, I think in my case my tendon was too fat for them to even be comfortable. I just walked around barefoot for a couple weeks and then did both low athletic shoes. I’d say do what’s comfortable, but be careful.
glad to hear your’re in 2 shoes, i can’t wait till i hit that that mark. how much different is it walking in 2 shoes than it’s walking in a boot and a shoe? did you do any type of PT for your foot and ankle to get ROM back before you started the PT for your achilles? are you walking w/a limp or smoothly? congrats and keep up the great work!
Walking in 2 shoes wasn’t easy at first.. been doing it for so long now that I forget how tough it was, the limp is gone… but I was pretty slow, pretty cautious… I didn’t do much PT at all, mostly because I’ve had ankle problems before and knew what to do… but also since I was never in a cast or anything really, I had tons of range of motion from the get go… my problem now is that my gastrocnemius is still SOOO small..