- wilfus3 has completed the grueling 26.2 ATR miles to full recovery!
Goal: 365 days from the surgery date.
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- wilfus3 has completed the grueling 26.2 ATR miles to full recovery!
Sep
2
PT starts on Wednesday
September 2, 2013 | |
What has been going on since my last post….well, I’ve been in the Vacocast since 8/20 and have no complaints. Right now my boot is set at neutral. Gradually moved from 20 degrees PF, to 10 degrees PF, then neutral…probably every 5 days or so. No issues.
I started sleeping with my boot off last Wednesday. I sleep much better and have gotten used to putting the boot on in the dark for bathroom trips, taking out the dog out, etc. no big deal.
When my boot is off I do a little personal PT… I don’t go above neutral but will roll my foot from side to side and bring the foot to neutral. Do this for a minute or two. Will be looking forward to seeing what PT has to offer. Right now the plan is to go to PT 3x week for about 4 weeks. So, if I get all 4 weeks in, I’ll be at week 11.
That’s about it….non-surgical approach seems to be doing fine. Will check in after PT starts.
Comments
6 Comments so far
Congrats! I’ve received my vaco and I take it in Wednesday to get my when I get cast removed. I start PT the next week. The boot does seem a bit sophisticated for late night trips to the potty but i’ve been practicing on my good foot.
I set the boot at 20 degrees to mimic 2 wedges and will probably be on the same cycle you were on. I figured I had to prep the boot before taking it in so the doctor just has to approve and not figure anything out.
I’m happy for you on your progress. Take Care.
Don’t be surprised or discouraged if you are introducing the boot to the orthos instead of the other way around.
I live in a North American metropolis with population of almost 3 million. I took the boot into the ortho department of the hospital. Just realized it’s not only the largest hospital in the area but the second largest in all of Canada.
The ortho and a number of nurses had not seen the vaco. One nurse seemed to have some faded recollection of how the pump works. Oddly they all seemed to be in fact new to the idea of even a hinged boot. I was not dealing with a new ortho. The standard issue out of the hospital is a non-hinged aircast boot.
It created some interest and the nurse explained it to a few medical staff in the department. The nurse who had come across it in the past went through the instructions alongside myself. She approximated the heel lift way too low to equal 4 wedges. I did not realize that till later cause the rather extreme pain of impinging on my wound and softness all around made huge difference. I corrected the degrees myself later.
Bionic you and I agree 100% on the aircast and many other things. Do you think 10 degrees = 1 wedge?
Have either of you tried the range of motion aspect? Tomorrow is the big day. Woo Hoo.
SJW, You’ll love getting into your new accessory! I haven’t done the ROM yet. Although I set it at 30 and neutral Plantar Flexion….and it didn’t make any appreciable difference to my walking, as my foot stayed pretty much neutral. I ‘m sure it will be appreciated when I start going the other direction, Dorsi Flexion.
And yes, based upon my research, 1 wedge is 10 degrees. Good luck tomorrow!
SJW here is a link that may help you measure wedges and get some idea of angles. I believe it is angle A which is the degrees we are talking about. Just fill in edge a and b.
http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/calrtri.htm
I don’t recall what degrees one wedge was but I found a few things out along the way that may help you in my attempt to figure it out.
1. Heel wedges for boots on the market differ in their height. I thought all wedges were standard size, but there are variations. So 4 wedges could mean two very different things. It seems most for achilles are standard height as from my reading here most people start with 4 if I recall correctly. Hopefully it is the same 4 units that all orthos use!!
2. However for you if you take a ruler and measure, you don’t need to count number of wedges to figure out angle.
3. I was not sure if edge b (bottom of foot) extended from toe to heel or from about start of first wedge (midfootish) to heel etc. However you get very different angles and one will obviously be wrong, so you can get some idea.
4. The interesting part of 3 above (digress from your degrees query) is that although the effect on achilles angle may be similar the foot angle of the foot as a whole is completely different in a vaco and with wedges. With wedges on, uncomfortoble for me, I was so glad that men are not expected to wear heels. With the vaco, unlike the wedges, the rise is continuous rise from the toe to heel.
5. The Vaco may confuse a bit as the two soles feel very different to walk in. Don’t attribute the heel angle to that fact. (if you start with the non-rocker, larger curved sole…remember to even it up with higher stable platform on other side).
6. Like I said I was set from 4 wedges to too low an angle in vaco. I have read that others will feel that right away. I was so enthralled by the comfort that I only discovered it later. I was also still early in weight bearing. You are likely to know if there is too much of a change too soon.
Great to see that you’re moving along!
Sounds like you are going to be another non-op success story! Good luck with PT!