Beginning physio
Once I had the final cast removed, the doctor told me that I was free to start physio. He said he would arrange this through the NHS. However, I decided to speed the process up by getting a private physio appointment at the Hampden Sports Clinic, which my girlfriend has used for PT on her shoulder following swimming and water polo problems.
I booked an initial consultation and was able to be seen the following day. So my first appointment consisted of the physio massaging my leg in an attempt to loosen up the achilles. This lasted for most of the session, with him then providing me with some exercises to improve my walking. Up until then, I was basically planting my bad leg onto the ground and pushing up from it, not walking heel to toe at all. The exercises which were to be done four times a day for five minutes consisted of stepping back and forward on my good leg, which the stationary bad leg rocked forward on the toes and back onto the heel. The purpose of the exercise is simply to re-train myself how to walk naturally again.
The physio also told me to keep the leg elevated as much as possible to keep the swelling down, and also to just move the foot backwards and forwards whenever I was sat down to keep working the calf. I was also cleared to go swimming.
I religiously did the exercises all week and returned for a second appointment this afternoon.
Again, we started with him massaging my leg, focussing on a lump which has formed just above where the achilles joins the heel. This is the only area which gives any pain when I am walking around.
We then moved onto the static bike and tried cycling with very little resistance (just at level two). I found this easier than I was expecting and the physio is happy that I cycle this week - although warned me against doing too much - just fifteen to twenty minutes, at very low resistance.
He also gave me some new exercises, this time focussing on my balance, which again I am to do several times a day, twenty reps per exercise each time. There are a series of three exercises. The first is simply stepping from one leg to the other, rocking between the two. The second is lifting alternate legs up behind me and the third is going up on tiptoes, with both feet grounded. Again, I shall make sure I repeat these several times a day and also continue the stepping exercise from last week.
I feel encouraged by the progress I am making right now and hope this continues in the following weeks. As for now, I will now be going to the gym pretty regularly to cycle and swim.
For those in the UK, the NHS physio team did get back to me last week to fit in an appointment with them. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see me until 3 July, which was a month after which the doctor had cleared me for physio. This seems another example where some better planning could help the patient. It was known for two months when I was going to come out of the cast - could the appointment not have been set up then, and cancelled if necessary?
June 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Hi Mate
Great to hear you’re coming along ok and thanks for your info, I’ve been doing the exercises you have mentioned but not pushing it.
My Doctor hasn’t actually said in so many words that i am cleared for physio although i have been given exercises. I feel a wee bit frustrated but will just have to be patient.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Hi Simon,
I was reading your reply to Sam and noticed you were getting physio for six months minimum.
Have they recommended the length of time, i didn’t expect it to be so long.
I have my first NHS session tomorrow, how are you getting on ?
Cheers for now.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Hi Cactus
I guess I wasn’t quite specific enough, BUPA have pre-approved physio for the next six months, if needed. I’m not sure how many sessions I’ll need. Hopefully, it won’t be for so long, or not so frequently in any case.
I am a wee bit frustrated at the moment, this is the first period when I don’t really feel progress. I still have a pain at the bottom of the achilles, with every step I take, and can’t seem to shake it off. The physio doesn’t seem too concerned, he says it is inevitable at the moment, but it is frustrating. Even when the cast was on I could count down the days till it would come off.
Hope tomorrow goes well.
Si
June 4th, 2014 at 2:43 pm
5 years on and I’m hoping you still come back to this blog every now and again Simon. I’m in Glasgow and on week 7 of plaster having had a complete ATR in April. I have no idea at the moment if on week 8 (next week) I will be able to FWB and actually get my cast off. Currently still NWB
I also have no idea what my treatment will be from week 8 on orwards, if my AT has actually healed. Trying to get a moment on the consultant’s time durting the past weeks has been extremely difficult. I’ve gained all my knowledge from online blogs like yours. Anyway, my foot has been at right angle to my leg for 1 week so I’m hoping its onwards and upwards and I ditch the cast next week, on week 8.
I also have BUPA private health so my question for you is this : is Hampden on the BUPA list for physio?
Cheers mate and hope you are fully recovered all these years down the line, and your ATR is a distant memory!
June 4th, 2014 at 6:51 pm
Hi Tracy
I’d go to the achillesblog home page if I were you, and move through the blogs from there - a lot has happened in the past 5 years in this area of medicine, although maybe not in Glasgow if you are not coming out of plaster until week 8. Were you NHS Scotland or BUPA?
Treatment throughout the country varies massively, as it does around the world. Ironically for you, two of the most progressive centres are in the UK, in Exeter and in Belfast. Tragic that the specialists don’t often enough exchange best practice ways of working.
June 5th, 2014 at 11:00 am
Thanks Hillie - I’m currently NHS but have private healthcare through BUPA which I can take advantage of - I haven’t so far as I didn’t think the treatment would be that different. Don’t even know if they will be coming out of plaster yet at week 8 - I’m week 7 now and still NWB! Will work my way through the blogs on the homepage. Thanks once again for your kind response.
June 5th, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Hi Tracy, having a good day?
If you are bored out of your mind, or just for something different to do, start yourself a blog here - there is guidance on achillesblog home page. Make sure you add timeline, etc. Easy stuff.
My treatment was NHS too, at Exeter which had a dedicated AT clinic and the very best, most progressive ortho team. Rehab schedule detailed on one of achillesblog / suddsy ‘chapters’. I don’t know why you have kept plaster for so long, you need to ask. I had private health care too but my NHS hospital was best for this trauma issue - prompt treatment, great physio’s, best boot, direct line to the fracture team. Should be a case study although I did list its results on Suddsy’s blog.
I used my private insurance for 10 weeks of follow-up therapy from a sports physio. This was after 16 weeks - NHS physio’s had seen me from week 2 to week 15/16.
Keep posting, and go back to the hospital with lots of questions and ask them for a (belated) written schedule of what to expect and when.
H