Achilles tendon rupture, non surg, 14 weeks Creaking when climbing stairs and heel raises

Thanks Sharon. Much appreciated and hope you too make good recovery and lead a pain free life. Only we who suffer from these types of conditions understand the pain we undergo whilst just walking, all the best to you for a total recovery.

Just an update to my creaking heel on going up stairs. I rang my physio, lst week, and she said that as long as I hadn't re injured the tendon, then the creaking was normal and not to worry. It's been creaking for some 3 weeks now but my progress is continuing well, so dont think the creaking has been a problem

Hi Breeze61 and Sharon

I met the surgeon (the local guy) who operated on me this morning as it was the 4th month (18 weeks) post operation consultation. He was happy with my progress although i did tell him that i suffer from some degree of pain most days (90%). He did say that 6 months is the benchmark from his experience to be pain free. I am keeping my fingers crossed!. Took an x-ray of the ankle and thank god there has been no re-growth since the last x-ray.  I don't use any pain killers. I suppose i have got used to having pain over the last 3 to 4 years. I continue to immerse my leg (below the knee) in hot and cold water (alternate over 20 minutes) and then rub a gel that tends to reduce the pain somewhat. I was told by the doctor to just stick to hot water. Usually in the morning when i wake up i am pain free. It (pain) builds up over the day although at times the pain is more intense when resting in bed and i turn my leg over. I do walk about 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day. This includes walking about 3,000 steps for exercise. The rest is mostly walking inside the house, garden etc. This is about 2 to 3 times more that what i did when i was working which was a desk job. I go to the gym 3 times a week and spend about 1.5 to 2 hours doing cardio and then weights. In overall terms the fittest and leanest i have ever been other than for this pain in my heel!. I was told not to do the heel drops as yet but keep doing other ankle exercises (resistance band).  

Hi Sharon

Great to hear that you are making some progress and increasing your activity level. Hope you continue to get better. 

I am planning to do a separate post on my entire experience so that some others can get some insight about insertional Achilles tendinitis and the recovery process and hopefully someone who has undergone the same type of surgery could indicate a timeline of progress beyond 18 weeks!. 

Hopefully the 3 of us will keep this post updated going forward of our individual progress.

Will be careful with the exercise regime. thanks

 

Hi Breeze

I also do about 10,000 steps a day of which usually 2,700 is done when i go for a walk as part of my daily exercise (30 minutes at a leisurely pace). I feel that it is this 2,700 steps that invariably brings me pain. I feel this is largely because the road (more a private lane off the main road) where my house is situated is at a lower level on both sides ( it is circular road). So which ever side i walk there is section of the road which has a bit of an incline. Maybe about 20 degrees for a about 50 meters. When walking this incline i feel the achilles stretching somewhat and towards later in the evening there is pain ( even on the other leg as well which requires surgery). I have read that walking / running up an incline is a contributory factor for people with insertional achilles tendonities. I mentioned this to my doctor. He was of the view that walking the incline for a short distance should not be the cause. Anyway, i decided today to skip the walk for a week or so and see whether the pain goes away. It is (the heel pain) driving me potty!. Will update after about 10 days.

Hi Breeze

Delighted to hear that you were in Sri Lanka even if it was just for a few hours and it was 41 years ago!. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since then!. We had a terrible civil war / terrorism for 25 long years from 1984 to 2009. Fortunately that was eradicated in 2009. Sri Lanka can be deemed to be "paradise" if one is significantly rich!. I suppose that is the case all over the world but in Sri Lanka it is a must. The Politicians that we keep electing every 5 years seems to have no clue as how to fast track the years we lost.  There are quite few Britishers who post retirement has settled down in Sri Lanka mostly near the coastal cities. It is warm enough throughout the year with temperature around 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you were flying on an RAF plane then most probably you would have landed not in the main airport although even now the main airport is no way comparable to say Singapore or Bangkok or any in USA or Europe. We get about 2 million tourists in a year. Next time instead of Spain you should do Sri Lanka!. 

I presume Sharon is from the USA.

Getting back to my heel i have avoided the 30 minute walk in the last 3 days and certainly the incidence of pain has been far less although my target of 10,000 steps a day is no longer being achieved!. In any case  avoiding the walk, will defeat the whole purpose of the surgery. I will most probably commence walking on a flat stretch of the road by maybe driving to a walking range nearby and then walk and see how the heel reacts and then gradually build up. Both the surgeons have previously told me that the surgery involved shaving / cutting off the calcium deposits(incidentally they put the shavings in to a bottle and gave me at my request!), reattachment of the tendon and quite a bit of damage to the nerves and hence time is needed for full recovery. 

Hi Breeze and Sanjeewa,

Good to hear you're both making some progress! I am in the UK, Breeze where are you?

Unfortunately I am still going round in circles with my injury, I start to feel like it's getting stronger, then I cycle to work and I'm limping again . It does always seem to be cycling that upsets it the most (I have kept a record so I can spot patterns like this). That was the cause of the original injury (back in October last year), so it is not that surprising. I'm just flat out of patience now. If after a year it hasn't sorted itself out, I'm worried it isn't going to.

I have a follow-up with the physio next week. I am going to push for a scan. If I don't get anywhere I will try getting a scan privately. I'm worried it needs surgery.

In better news, I went swimming yesterday and that didn't seem to affect my foot. So I can do that a bit more to get back some fitness.

Hi Breeze and Sharon

I came across this site some time ago and revisited it recently. Lots of good information. I have not as yet subscribed to the journal "Reversing Achilles Tendinitis" although tempted. Over the weekend i posted about my condition asking for some feedback. It is still pending.

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Hi All,

not been on here for a while but thought I would give my state of play at the 6 months non op.

I'm 69, quite fit and fully ruptered my achilles on the 21 May 2018 whilst turning and sprinting to try and stop my car rolling backwards after forgetting to put the hand brake on.

I would say my progress is about normal for an older person but one can never prepare for how slow the healing process is. For several months now I have been saying that ''I should be limp free by the end of the next month'' but it just doesnt heal that fast.

I'm really pleased now and am walking 4 to 5 miles quite comfortable and the tendon itself has fully filled in the ruptered pack. Previously there was a thinness of healing around the gap but this has thickened out nicely. Apart from walking most days and cyling twice a week [now doing up to 3 hours]

I've only done a few heel raise but have been using my healing foot to climb and descend stairs one step at a time. This really works the tendon and on going up I try to use the ball of my foot and try to stop the heel from touching the stair.

I've still got a slight limp but the injured calf is filling out nicely and dare I say it, ''I should be walking without the limp in another month''.

Good luck to all achilles patients and be patient if you can