toble74’s AchillesBlog

My autocorrect hates your name tord, sorry! I’ve added it to the dictionary now…

Listen Ford, great traction is great for peak performance, but it also puts peak strain on a few body parts, definitively including the AT.

@Norm:

Interesting regarding traction and the ATR. I tore mine while playing five-a-side indoor. Rubbery surface and outdoor trainers. Very high traction.

I used to blame my ATR on the fact that I had almost ten years of inactivity before taking up running again. My PT disagreed, blaming it 90% on my choice of shoes and surface, and 10% on genetics.

Texasflier,
You are so young, mate. You will be able to play action sports again if you want to.
Look, Beckham for instance played competitive soccer after his ATR in his thirties.
Confidence returns with some time, you are just on the earliest stages of the recovery
Best of luck

Antonio

As you recover and get into 2 shoes, uneven ground (or deep sand) will indeed be scary, though as much for other leg-&-foot parts as for your AT. And you won’t be spiking or blocking for a while either!

Interesting. I’m something of a beach volleyball fan and know her and her husband played for my local MLB baseball team. I just play on occasion with friends, nothing serious and usually with beer.

But that does makes some sense. That certainly basketball and indoor volleyball can and is worse. I would just think beach volleyball could provide some of the similar pitfalls. Of course, I’m just 5 weeks! So everything sounds/seems scary to me at the moment.

The thought of quickly, explosively jumping up for a spike or a block, from a stationary position in uneven sand just seems like s recipe for disaster!

Misty May-Treanor’s story is that she was a dominant player on the pro beach volleyball circuit for years, super fast, fit, great vertical, EXPLOSIVE. If doing those moves could tear an AT and she was vulnerable, you’d think…

Then, after most of those years of killer pro ball and Olympic Gold Medal, she’s invites to Dancing With the Stars. Boogying in rehearsal, in squeaky gym shoes on a clean high-traction floor, she tears an AT.

For some people, that’s a mysterious “You never know” story. But for this ATR “expert” who plays competitive court and beach volleyball and has torn both ATs in squeaky shoes on the court, it makes perfect sense. Indeed, we’ve had quite a few people here who’ve had ATRs dancing, and NONE from beach volleyball. I also know several ATR court vball players (and bball and badminton etc. etc.) but NO ATR beach ball players so far. The traction is the key. Great traction let’s us apply much higher tension to our ATs than sand. Beach vball is super brutal in lots of ways - esp 2-on-2 - but not ATR-scary, IMO.

Norm, I would argue that beach volleyball is indeed, at least off the top of my head. You are exploding out of a stance quite often and also have a lack of level, supportive ground.

Is her story simply that she came back from ATR and is a world-class beach volleyball player again?

TF, beach volleyball is NOT an ATR-risky sport (unlike court volleyball and the others you list). Check out Misty May-Treanor’s story!

Hey there, thanks for the update! I’m getting all worried about small details in 5 weeks post-op, but am now realizing that things do even out at 6 months and beyond.

At 31, I’m fully prepared to give up the action sports too as I tore mine playing football/soccer. So that, in addition to basketball, tennis and beach volleyball will likely be no more. Though tennis would be the most difficult to give up.

I enjoy the triathlon activities as well, so I will just concentrate on those and be content.

Good luck, I hope and will certainly try to return to half-marathons and long-distance biking as you have. Cheers.

If you tear the other one running, you won’t be able to kick yourself, but you’ll hit yourself with a crutch! Seriously, it sounds great, except for the nagging worries about “that” leg.

Antonio, love the tips and I couldn’t agree more with #1. Congrats on the 12 min/mile and Good luck in 2014!

Good advice Antonio, I’m about 10 weeks and second the importance of daily rehab, although Ive on been doing my ROM exercises and Therabands during the last two days of Christmas vacation. I would like to add to your list to.

1. Trust your body and what it tells you. You will know if your doing too much too fast

2. In the beginning it’s vital to have a good support structure Nd get plenty of rest during the initial healing process

3. Set reasonable goals. I have always done better wit a clear and precise goal to push towards.

4. Listen to your doctor(s), PT, And other. DO your Research!

5. Be positive.

Happy Holidays

Thanks all,
To Andrew,
I have learned here that we all have different recoveries. I think that during the first couple of months we all have to be in the safer side, never pushing to hard.
For the first week in the gym I wore my boot, so I worked out with the boot all the time, doing legs, hips, and also upper body, with light weights
After a week I felt safe and started to work out without the boot.
Regardless the intensity of the workout, it feels great to be doing exercise again. I have been doing static bike with very light resistance and I am increasing it day after day.
Good luck!

Thats fantastic! It’s a great feeling when you start to get your life back.

Great news Toble, your slightly ahead of me in shoes and miles ahead in terms of cycling etc at the gym - I am just about to give it a go…any advice for those first few times at the gym?

Congratulations on reaching that milestone and happy healing.

Fantastic, keep it going! I am just over 6 weeks I walked bare foot round the house a bit today, with crutches still and load bearing as much as I dared, no pain in my ATR just in my knee! Got to get used to walking again!!!!

Woohoo!! Feels great doesn’t it? Congrats on making this big milestone - having your hands free is wonderful!!. I practiced walking in shoes about 20 feet each day so it wasn’t a big jump when I went to them.

Thanks Andrew for sharing your experience. It’s been great to be here and liked reading the blog.

It all makes sense and I am no expert just posting what I read and my source but why isn’t everyone in a boot at 5days and told to be FWB?

The whole AT rupture - as a mechanical engineer, it blows my mind as it creates for more questions than I will ever gain the answers to, yet my thirst for more knowledge grows with every discovery

Listen to your specialist and belive in the feedback your body provides

Andrew:
At 4-6 weeks the scar tissue has has generally filled in the gap between the 2 tendon ends. The tendon has very little strength at that point and the risk of re rupture is high.

8-12 weeks is the period when there is sufficient strength for most people to be back to 2 shoes. At 16 weeks my ortho surgeon said that about the only thing at that point that would cause a re rupture is a fall or a strong cutting move. The tendon continues to gain strength peaking at about 6-12 months after repair.

In any case, the sutures are primarily for holding the 2 ends together and do not add much if anything to the strength of the tendon.

So just to be clear - the tissue repair of the rupture takes 6-8 weeks - THIS IS NOT a green light for any of us to be doing cartwheels, star jumps and squat thrusts at this time

the way I interpreted it was that it just means that your tendons are biologically ready for rehabilitation… up until that point, so I assumed that for mobilised patients with surgical repairs, there’s more dependance on the strength of the sutures holding the torn ligaments together as the accelerated rehab in early weeks continues.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Achilles-Tendon-Rupture.htm

{QUOTE}

What is the outlook for a ruptured Achilles tendon?

Generally, the outlook is good. However, the tendon does take time to heal, usually about six to eight weeks. More time will be needed after this to allow the muscles to regain their normal strength after being in a plaster or brace…….. and the time taken to return to sport is between 4 and 12 months.

{End Of QUOTE}

Good question, normofthenorth. It ‘d be great to have a reliable statistic about reruptures.
Just in case, we should all keep in the safe side. I am still so scared about rerupturing it…

Thank you for your message, Andrew
I did not know about the 6-8 weeks. I will take it easy for another two weeks, just in case.
It is adifficult balance between pushing in the rehab but also keeping safe, isn’t it?
Antonio

Andrew, do you recall a source for the tendon taking 6-8 wks to repair fully? Weeks 8-12 seem to be the peak period for ATR reruptures, and I have trouble believing both of those statements are true.

Andrew, do you recall a source for your “I read that physically the tendon takes 6-8 wks to repair fully on it’s own”? Weeks 8-12 seem to be the peak period for ATR reruptures, and I have trouble believing both of those statements are true.

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Great news on the speed of your mobility, take everything within your own limits and under advisement.

I read that physically the tendon takes 6-8 wks to repair fully on it’s own so I am assuming that you will be relying heavily on the strength of the surgical repair until then.

It’s nice to get such a milestone so early though, congrats and happy healing to you