tyty’s AchillesBlog

Nothing new to report but in case it helps anyone… I’ve been FWB for two weeks. My progression from the boot (Vacocast) to a high top sneaker to a regular sneaker took less than a week but that’s mostly because Ive been fortunate enough to have very little pain. Walking barefooted or shoeless with socks is fine in the morning but after I’ve been wearing shoes all day it’s painful on the bottom of my heel. The little spikes things on the bottom of a Croc also hurt my tender foot.

My doctor, who I visited yesterday, seems very pleased with my progress and seemed surprised I was walking so well. I told her my “other” achilles seemed tight and she tested and said I had more ROM in my surgical foot than the “good” one. She gave me a night splint to wear. (Anyone have experience with these?)

I discussed this with my physical therapist (who is great) and am going to do the home exercises on both legs to see if that helps. I lifted 7.5 lbs on one of the foot machines today and then my PT told me of another patient who did 30! Something to aspire to. My doctor’s “protocol” seems to be 3 weeks of PT. I had to push a little for more time. I don’t think she has a problem with it, I just think her perspective is a bit more limited. (I.e. I couldn’t really walk well, or painlessly, when I first saw her so this is a major improvement) I’m learning a lot at PT so I think I’m actually going to end up in better shape ths pre-ATR.

I had moved my bed and everything downstairs during my recovery and am having the movers come tomorrow to out everything back to normal. A little anxious about going up and down stairs all day because prior to surgery it would take a long time to shuffle up, placing my bad foot on each step and the dragging the good one up, one at a time and painfully. I keep expecting pain because I waited so long to have the surgery it’s etched in my brain!

I still get a lot of swelling after walking a lot (going to the mall for example) and the it takes a good day to recover so I’m trying to pace myself but all in all still moving forward for now.

That’s the word of the day.

In a couple of past blog entries, I’ve joked about my lack of balance and my inability to do a side to side motion on the balance board. Apparently, there’s something called “proprioception” and my lack of it is the cause of these issues.

From what I’ve read, Proprioception is your own ability to sense where your limbs are in space. Here’s a wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

I searched achillesblog itself and found quite a few entries where the word was mentioned so I think it must be fairly common to lose this ability with injury. Maybe my walking around on my injured foot too long didnt help. My physical therapist says it’ll come back. He did also say to be extra careful because people reinjure themselves, have falls, sprain ankles when they have no Proprioception.

Googling “Proprioception after achilles” also yielded quite a few results. It also made it clear that lack of it can cause injury to the achilles. (Hmm..I wonder if I’ve had this all along. ive never been the most graceful person.) I also wonder if there’s something people can do while they’re NWB to keep this ability intact during recovery.

I’m very curious to know if any others have/had experienced this and what’s been helpful.

Well, it hasn’t been a full week since my last post but a lot has happened since. Apparently, I’m on the “no protocol” protocol.

On Monday (8 weeks) my physical therapist said if the doctor gave the ok I could start strength exercises. I called my doctor’s office and she shouted “You’re at 8 weeks? You can do anything you want.” Anything? Ok.

In all fairness, she did tell me at the 6 week visit that in a couple of weeks I could get a high top sneaker with heel pads and would be able to drive shortly afterwards. Apparently, the boot is what hinders driving. I immediately ran to the shoe store and got my Air Jordan’s (or the cheaper, “youth” sized version since they don’t seem to have many girl’s basketball shoes). Walking was significantly slower but much more even and balanced. I brought a crutch with me everywhere I went at first but realized I was just dragging it with me after a while.

On Tuesday, at PT, we began exercises with Dynobands, a small leg weight and some machine where there are 4 weights around it and you move front to back, side to side and then all around. I’ll get the name.

Tuesday night I realized I had no ride to PT and risked getting scolded by my therapist and left a message asking if it would be ok for me to drive 1.5 miles. Imagine my surprise, and joy, when he said yes.

On Wednesday, we added more weight and added an ankle board. This is where I hit a wall for the first time. We read and talk a lot about dorsiflexation and plantarflexation. Apparently there’s another movement which is side to side. I couldn’t even move the board an inch sideways in either direction! We tried it with me sitting down and even that was tough. He gave me some Dynobands to go and I took the long way home! Yay freedom. (I think I’m prepared for the inevitable plateau and setback but feel pretty good right now)