teresa1’s AchillesBlog

Teresa: Look into Graston to take out some of the scar tissue. It worked well for me but it was not a comfortable experience at the time of treatment. Every time I had a treatment done I got more mobility back. Happy Healing!!

It’s great to have you back. My return to work went quite smoothly. I took your advice and had a phased return over a month. It’s like I’ve never been away now. My recovery sounds very similar to your own, I too still have a very lumpy achilles which my physio said would need continued massage. The only other vestiges of my rupture are a slight limp when I’ve been still for a long time (it sort of stiffens up) and when I’m very tired. And I still can’t manage to hold my heal raises for more than a second or two. The fact your not back in shoes must be irritating for you as I know you’re a shoe lover. I tend to stick to the same shoes but I’m slowly venturing into different ones. The problem is my feet need to toughen up a bit after months of pampering but I know it’ll all come eventually. It was so good to hear your ok. Carry on heeling LL

Is your PT lazy? This was one of the things that my PT did and it really made a difference. It is much easier for a PT to apply that vigorous hard massage to your AT than for you to do it. When doing it yourself you are severely limited as far as access to the AT goes.

Maybe if you (successfully) sued the guy who plastered you at 90 degrees, ruling out subsequent non-surgical treatment, the cash settlement would ease the pain and inconvenience? I doubt that there are many non-medical bloggers here who would make that kind of rookie error.

Scar tissue can be tough, in both senses. I hope you find a PT who can break it up for you.

Hi Theresa,
So good to read your update! I have a few lingering issues with stiffness and massages are magical. But, like Liverpoolass, I can’t hold a one-leg calf raise and I have heel pain when I do too much walking or hiking…I agree with Gerry that having your PT do the massaging is the best way to go. I’ve had some success with a pedicurist who knows reflexology and my leg never felt so good after she was done massaging my foot and lower leg and finding just the right pressure points. I hope you find a resolution to breaking up the scar tissue. Sounds like you’re really doing great. We’ve come a long way:)Happy healing…

Thanks for all your comments, been a bit slow replying as I’ve had a few access issues to the site.
I’ve long been discharged from the physio a long time so I haven’t had any help with the scar tissue. I’ve not heard of Graston, is that a technique?
By the way Norm, suing the NHS Tends to be a long and ultimately fruitless task, especially when the outcome has turned out pretty well. I was seen at a minor injuries unit on a little island off the coast of Cornwall, and I doubt they had the expertise with ATs. Water under the bridge.
I’ve been told that a sports massage therapist would be a good (and cheaper) option.
On a good note, I managed a 2 1/2 hour hike today with only minor twinges. Yay!

Hey you guys, good to see all my ‘peers’ back in one place ;). I am at 7.5mths and I think you guys a bit less.

well done on the hike Teresa! I have been doing heaps of trail hiking too, after a long one (maybe 2-3 hrs upward) its starts to ‘pull’ a bit near the heel but nothing painful. And yesterday I did my first (post injury) mt bike race! Got to laugh, I got 4th, which was funny cos i’ve been whinging about my fitness. It was unbelievably muddy which was a bit concerning, I did think about what would happen if i had a big off on the downhill and landed on my right foot. Not that its ever happened.

I’m still seeing my PT every 3-4 weeks, but we are pretty much rebuilding supporting muscle now and its good to have that ongoing accountability. But I’d say i’m pretty much doing everything I used to. Yay!!

Good to hear from you Bronny. Good on you for getting through the race, let alone coming fourth. I found it really helpful watching your progress as I was a few weeks behind you, don’t think Ill be following on the bike though!
I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, I might pay for it a bit.

I’ve had access issues too Theresa - must have been a problem with the site. I was also treated by NHS and whilst my treatment was poor to say the least (I went from toes pointing down to 90 degrees in one fell swoop), I agree with you in that if it’s healed you’d be on a hiding to nothing trying to sue. My NHS physio didn’t want to know about massaging the tendon and my first (and only) session lasted just 10 mins! Sounds like you’re doing well - happy healing 

This page reminds me of a party where everybody meets in the kitchen — hi again, all! Bronny, your progress at 7.5 months post-non-op sounds terrific! Maybe the standard NZ non-op rehab (from the 2007 study) is even better than UWO’s (from 2010)? Have you compared their detailed results, now that you have both articles in full text?
I’m just back from my second Whistler ski week since my heart-valve replacement (3rd since ATR), and it was a delight! I got over 20,000′ of vertical on 2 of the 6 days, despite somewhat elongated “rests” to let my heart rate drop down to levels that would alarm my Cardio Rehab folks less than the peak ones. Everything felt great. We even saw a lot of sunlight and good visibility, which is a bonus at Whistler!

Hey Norm, congrats on your Recovery from your valve op. I think you appreciate being able to do things more when you’ve had a chance to miss them. That’s certainly so.
BTW remember the Jona Lewi song - you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties!

Hey norm, have we got the full text for both studies now? If so, i certainly will have a look - though I didn’t follow the Auck protocol exactly - they don’t even seem to do that at auck hospital!! funny aye!

Bronny, I thought YOU had a copy of the NZ study, from Prof. Twaddle himself, no? The UWO study is on this site, in full text — just follow the appropriate link from the Main Page. I’ve been treating UWO like the “Gold Standard”, but if Twaddle’s results are better (or maybe if he’s convinced that he’s found a still better way, and has good experience with it), then let’s promote THAT! (I don’t have the time or energy to hold the two studies “up to the light” to compare them in detail. I was going to say “unfortunately”, but maybe that’s good news for an addict! )

Norm - no i think i just got the protocol and an email from Dr Twaddle himself, which i posted on my blog, don’t think i ever got the full text.

OK, Bronny, I guess I remembered it wrong. Do you (or does anybody else) have some time and energy to ask him for a copy of the whole study, then compare the detailed results to the UWO study’s? I’m too cheap to spring US$32 for it, and I’m not sure I’d ever spend the time to compare the two, either. (Now that I’m supposed to power-walk TWO miles 5 days per week for cardio rehab, it’s almost all I can accomplish before bed-time! )

bronny and norm - If you point me to the article, I may be able to get the full text and make it available on AchillesBlog.

Dennis, the easiest link is probably at Ref 4 in the Wikipedia article on ATR, bit.ly/Wiki-ATR . Failing that, it’s also listed in my long “studies” page, which you’ve linked in your “studies” page. Twaddle et al, 2007, New Zealand. . .