Nov
20
Mr. Two Shoes
November 20, 2013 | |
Nine weeks post-op and I just got permission to wear two shoes full time but to keep the walking boot handy in case I get tired or sore.
This has been a helluva journey and I know it’s not over but I sure am glad to be making tangible progress.
My right foot (partially ruptured AT on 7/25, surgery 9/16) feels weird in the shoe and is a little numb but the physician’s assistant checked it and apparently I have good sensation and no nerve damage. I’ve been told by my physical therapist that numbness can last up to a year and that i shouldn’t sweat it. So i won’t.
Walking in two shoes is great, but a little odd. I have a slight limp that I’m trying to lose and some tightness coming down stairs, which I’ll bring up at PT tonight, but otherwise it feels ok. I don’t have the pre-surgical tenderness in the AT or the painful bulge and I am certain if I didn’t have the surgery that would never have gone away. I’ve spoken to people who have dealt with that misery for years and that is just too long.
My one thought, maybe a word of warning, for anyone who may have tendonitis/tendonosis (which is what i had prior to my rupture) is to treat it early and to consider options other than what my first physician prescribed for me: rest, elevation, therapy, a walking boot, more therapy, and four more weeks in a boot (eight weeks total, no improvement, and a jerky comment from the doctor that “sometimes these things just don’t heal.”)
A buddy of mine, a podiatrist, suggested a year ago, about five months into my tendonosis and about eight months before the rupture/surgery, that I consider Topaz, a radio frequency treatment. The idea behind it is that when there is a chronic injury like tendonosis the body sometimes just moves past it and it never heals. Plus, with the AT, there is little blood flow already so opportunities for healing are never great.
My friend explained that with this treatment he could have simulated a new injury and that might have jump started the healing process. I have no idea if it would have worked for me but, if it did, and there is plenty of evidence that shows it sometimes does, it could have saved me from going to through a full, open surgery and months of recovery. (My original doctor said he does not believe in the treatment and that it can sometimes actually lead to rupture.)
Anyhow, now that I’m here, nine weeks past surgery, in two shoes and praying/working for full recovery, I am glad I did it. I’ve spoken with many people who are years past the surgery and they say the AT is so strong they really never even think of it any more. That is what I wish for me and for everyone else going through this.
Comments
5 Comments so far
I’ve often heard that an ATR can often clear up tendinosis. Not Haglunds spurs etc, but many other problems.
If your limp is just an asymmetry where one stride is shorter than the other — but otherwise normal and balanced, then Keep Going. Keep working to develop the strength and ROM you need to make it perfect, but don’t sweat it. If you’re walking toe-out, don’t!
For walking down stairs, use the trick I’ve posted on my blog and lots of other places. It’s fast and easy and it LOOKS 100% normal, but it’s really a kludge that doesn’t make your ankle flex. Find it and learn it. Loading up a weak ankle downstairs is too hard for quite a while, IMO.
fixed it Norm. Thanks for the feedback.
Could you tell me where to find that stairs trick? I’m hoping that with therapy (I’m going tonight) it will loosen up so that going up/down stairs is easy.
I hadn’t considered that my ATR might clear up the tendonosis. In fact, I kind of figured the tendonosis evolved into a rupture, kind of collected from many small tears into one big one. Now that i think about it, my way of thinking about what happened doesn’t make sense and the tendonosis could still be there (though I don’t feel it like i did before).
I hope what you heard is right and that, either way, this tendonosis is gone!
BTW, you’re from Toronto? I have family up there. You’ve got one colorful mayor!
Here’s a copy of a copy of the trick (from my “the case for akipping surgery” page):
[Quote]By normofthenorth on Mar 28, 2012 | Reply | Edit
Here’s one version of the stair-walking trick, from 2010:
“Good luck. Casts are a pain. You’ll have a much better time going down stairs in two shoes if you’ve gotten good at rolling over the edge of the step in your walking cast. The same technique works in a walking cast, a boot, or a shoe.
Basically, you step down onto your healing foot so the foot is straight, but only half on the step, with the toe half over the air. Then as you step down onto your uninjured foot (down 1 more step), your healing foot rolls over the edge of that step, while your ankle stays at roughly neutral flex angle, without any unusual loading of the AT and calf. Once you get good at it, it’s fast, it looks and feels pretty normal, and it’s quite safe as long as you do it right, and consistently so. No distractions, and Watch Your Step!
If your cast is strong enough and well enough fitted, you should be able to get it (and your shin) to take all the strain while you’re walking, with no strain at all on your calf and AT. Or only as much as feels comfy and safe, as you choose. Walking boots work just the same, only they’re more easily adjusted — plus the exercise, physio, and hygiene benefits, of course!”
That trick also works in 2 shoes, as long as you’re FWB. By avoiding FWB on a sharply flexed ankle (which is difficult, painful, dangerous, and often impossible during ATR recovery), this trick lets you LOOK LIKE you’re going downstairs the way you did pre-ATR (& get downstairs just as fast), but without the dorsiflexion, risk, and pain.[\Quote]
Yes, Toronto, and yes, our Mayor is a handful. I’m wondering if all the bad publicity will end well for us, since Toronto’s image is probably still much more staid and boring than it really is. Love living here, even with Rob Ford!
I must be good, Norm. That is how I’ve been going down stairs — very similar to how I managed them in the boot. Thanks.
I second your comments about the futility of rest, ice, PT, and immobilization for tendinosis; I stuck with that protocol for far longer than I should have. I sometimes had periods of two or three pain-free years between flareups; had I known that the damage wasn’t actually healing, but continuing to worsen, I would have gotten more aggressive years ago.