suthrnman’s AchillesBlog

Tonight marks the 8th week since ATR.  I’ve been in 2 shoes for a couple of weeks and have started getting in some pretty good rides on the trainer.  Still limp a lot and can only press about 40 lbs on the scale w/ the ball of bad foot.

My ROM is pretty good; however, the Achilles just above the rupture is still very enlarged and a bit tender when stressing.  This area seems to be the limiting factor w/ my ROM.

Also, an interesting thing is the Soleus muscle (?) on the front inside of my leg seems to be high and enlarged (out of place).  Has anyone else noticed this?

All in all things are progressing well.

Last Saturday I experimented with putting on two shoes . . . and it was practically impossible for me to go back to the boot for messing around the house.  My tendon feels good and solid, but the upper connection to the muscles is swollen and pretty stiff.  I still can’t flex much past neutral and don’t feel confident to stretch it hard yet.

I also experimented with my bike/trainer.  My bad foot was able to exert enough pressure to clip into my pedals and I found it easier to use a high gear rather than low.  I rode for about 10 min each for two days not putting much pressure on the pedal, but enough to feel it in my calf.

Massage and soaking in hot or cold is a daily event and usually done multiple times.  The tendon/muscle connection seems to be the limiting factor at this point.  Since I have been working the ankle over the week, I have gain slight improvement in ROM . . . maybe 5 degrees increase in dorsiflexion.

Hopefully, I am not pushing too fast, but I really fear atrophy of both tendon and muscle more than the risks of re-rupture.  Also, I don’t believe I am putting too much stretch at this point . . . just active movement.  If it heals long, then maybe it will be due to the over-stretching I did a few weeks back–hopefully not, but won’t know for awhile.  Pressing on.