tord’s AchillesBlog

Dear All

[Original post found here, in Norwegian. http://www.terrengsykkel.no/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1320534&page=2 Edited and translated through google.translate.]

When it comes to exercise, I have good experience with rowing machine . I attach the uninjured leg as normal, and then I put the injured leg on the foot board and make it as comfortable as possible. And active as possible. It works best with the walker, but the main problem with the cast was that I still had a lot of pain, and would prefer to see the foot more elevated the chest.  You may find yourself comfortable if you do not have so much pain in your injured leg.

I also tried the arm cycle. Y ou can adjust your postition so you are lying down more than sitting, b ut then again it is incredibly boring. I rather watch paint dry.

I also ran interval in stairs with crutches . It works fine, as you lift straight up, which doesn’t create so much strain on your shoulders . And it’s exhausting too -  a really good exercise! I believe you can go uphill as well, but then you have the challenge with the shoulders again. Hard to find a hill that is steep enough to prevent the center of gravity to swing too far forward, which create the strain in your shoulders that gives you tendinitis.

I have also started with gentle exercise without the walker. Without any resistance, but I’m drawing circles with my big toe, wiggle my toes, and so on. Use pain as a guide. In addition, I try to stretch the tendon by pulling my toes upwards as hard as I can. T his is hard, as my muscles on the front of my leg are almost completely dead. It will be more of a stretch as these muscles grow stronger, I hope strength will increase at about the same pace as the felxibility in my AT.

I also has a really weird, puzzling, experience during strength training today: Why do I need to add extra weights for each set, when I run each set to exhaustion ( leg extension, ie machine for quadriceps )? It is almost as if the strength is actually there, but my body has forgotten how to mobilize it. For each set, it is as if it remembers a little more, so despite the burning of lactate in my muscles, I perform better the more sets I take. Puzzling - any ideas for the reason of this?

My first visit to the pool will be on July 4th . Can’t wait! And I can now ‘walk’ pretty far PWB. Did some 500m the other day, and it now feels much better. No more feeling of stretching the tendon, no more blisters on the inside of my skin

With maximum luck, I’ll get rid of the walker on July 19th. It is the earliest possible date. Probably I need to have it in two , maybe four , weeks after that, but it depends on how short my tendon is - and I am told not to stretch it much, except for walking a lot with the walker. Great… Anyway, I hope to have it off until Monday 5th August. When the plan is to push a pram to kindergarten , about 2 km, keep an eye on the kid for an hour , and then roll back home. I hope it goes without too much aspirin . Time will tell , but I stay active so I can now to prevent problems then.
Happy Healing

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