Posted on February 28th, 2015 by treetopflyer
I’ve been slowly getting back to the gym being super careful not to “tweek” my foot. I’ve been doing light back squats, semi light dead lifts, American kettle bell swings, rowing, aryodine bike. These excercises on top of my nightly ankle excercises to stretch. I’ve been trying to jog but the front of my ankle has slight pain, I’m assuming it’s just another hurdle but am wondering if anyone else has this experience? Heel pain is mostly gone unless I really push it but for the most part is gone. My concern is jogging on an ankle that feels like bone on bone (I’m sure it’s not) and causing damage before muscle or tendon strength is built up in that area. Any suggestions??
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Posted on February 10th, 2015 by treetopflyer
I had a full rupture of my right Achilles doing heavy sled pushes. I dropped my heel, like a dummy, when starting the push and heard a loud snap which brought me to my knees. Stupid mistake. Went to an urgent care down the street from the gym to get it checked out. The doc on staff diagnosed me with a strained calf, wrapped it and sent me on my way without doing a Thompson test or even touching my leg. nice. I was told to walk easy on it for a couple of weeks until it heals or go see my primary if its not feeling better. Needless to say I went to see my primary approaching 2 weeks. I was in a lot of pain in my ankle area. The pain right from the time of injury wasn’t horrible. The Docs always ask on a scale of 1-10 10 being the worst , whats your pain? I was always 5 or below. Anyway, after seeing my primary and her trying the Thompson test (positive) she sent me to the ortho. He had me get an ultra sound to check for blood clots (negative) and an ultra sound for my Achilles (positive). The tech found a complete rupture with a little over an inch gap in the tendon. 2 days later I was in surgery. From injury to surgery was 2 and a half weeks. Surgery lasted 1 1/2 hours. Recovery lasted 2 hours from what my wife told me. Went home and laid on my back with my foot above me heart for 2 weeks with occasional trips to the rest room and showers if you want to call it that. Took the prescribed pain meds for 4 days the switched to tylonol which covered the pain just fine. Luckily My wife and kids were there to take care of me and to make me stay put. At the 2 week mark was my first appt. to get my cast off. Felt great to get it off and get some air to my leg. Stitches were all dissolved and my incision was completely healed. I don’t think this is common as I’ve read a lot of posts with people saying the wound towards the heel doesn’t heal quite as quick and sometimes stays open and gets infected. I have to believe that me being able to keep my foot up and iced helped keep the swelling down therefore healing the incision. The Doc looked at it, moved my foot up and down a little then put it in another cast for 2 more weeks with my foot almost at 90 but not quite. It didn’t hurt but I sure could feel it pull. The next 2 weeks were kind of the same but I was able to move around a little more with my crutches. "showers" became a little easier. Pain was mostly gone except for when the cast pushed on the incision area at night. At the 4 week mark I had my 2nd post op visit and got my 2nd cast off. Awesome feeling! He moved my foot all over the place which made me super nervous but it was all good. Was instructed to wear my FWB for 4 weeks and return for my 3rd and final post op at the 8 week mark. I tried to wear just the boot with no heel pads and that didn’t work. I wore 3 pads for 1 week then took out 1 more every other day. They get smashed down anyway so It really wasn’t helping. At night I was told I could sleep with no boot. I was told I could shower with no boot. I was told that at night I should walk around the living room on a clear flat surface so start getting motion back. I did all of these. I didn’t have any balance at all on my injured leg in the shower so to wash my good foot I had to sit down. Everything was tight but it felt good to walk. Eventually at about the 6 week mark I could walk with no limp in my boot. Yesterday I had my 8 week appt. YAHOOO out of the boot and into 2 shoes. Doc says everything looks strong. No PT scheduled at this time but he did give me a list of exercises to do, I will. I told him I have a pre paid mountain bike race in May and a 220 mile hike scheduled in August…He said to do it. His instructions were if it starts to hurt pull back. Train, get stronger, and do what you need to do but remember your Achilles isn’t fully healed for 1 year so take it slow. I returned to my crossfit gym last night to do some stretches with a band and I followed the sheet the Doc gave me to a T. Im sore today but in a good way. People what Im saying is the light that you see is there, follow it. You’ll be back at it soon! I have a long slow road ahead but I’m looking forward to it. Cheers
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