Dear Kenny Loggins, my foot is loose
This post is a comment/question for all those out there who have started or completed physical therapy after an ATR. I spoke with a friend of mine this week who is a physical therapist. He told me that when the time comes for physical therapy, follow the doctors orders and don’t overdo it. He has seen 2 people in the last year who have over-extended their Achilles during their physical therapy, and now the tendon is “over-stretched”. Those people actually had to go back and have surgery again to tighten up the Achilles again.
Have you been warned about this? I’m roughly 4 weeks away from PWB and the beginning of PT. I’m just trying to get my head around what to expect. PT will be my personal Christmas present.
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You’ll find loads of cautions against “healing long” around here and a few stories of those who have needed that second surgery. My PT really put the fear of God into me during my first session - he actually had me put a wedge back into my shoe for another two weeks. As far as what to expect - there seems to be a wide variety of programs around. For me, things have been progressing slowly, and overall, PT has been much, much less pain-inducing than I had expected.
Stevem - I’m currently recovering from a second surgery after my tendon healed long. I’m not certain if it was a surgical error or if it happened during rehab process. There is no incident or series of exercises that I can point to as being the culprit, so I guess I can’t offer any warnings except to confirm that it is possible to heal long. Honestly, I think it was just a bit of bad luck. It seems the instances are rare so I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s good just being aware that it can happen. The most important thing to watch is how quickly the dorsiflexion progresses. You don’t want to get to a point where the dorsiflexion of the injured foot is greater than the uninjured foot. Slow and steady is good. When you start PT talk with them about the possibility of doing too much and make sure they keep an eye on the dorsiflexion. As Ultidad mentioned, there are a wide range of PT experiences. Just be sure to speak up if the PT asks you to do something that doesn’t feel right. Good communication with your PT is important.