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Ruptured achilles tendon 22/5/15

Posted , 11 users are following.

vicki_57097
vicki_57097

Last Friday I ruptured my achilles tendon doing wii fit jogging. On Saturday I went to a&e and was fitted with a cast and given crutches.

I got a phone call from the hospital on Monday asking me to go see the orthopaedic surgeon next Tuesday. I'm in a significant amount of pain and I'm not sure what do expect from my appointment.

0 likes, 52 replies

52 Replies

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  • sarah76801
    sarah76801 vicki_57097

    Posted

    Hi Vicki, I ruptured my achilles about 1 month ago but didn't realise until 2 weeks ago when I went to my local minor injuries unit. I had surgery 10 days ago and was placed in an equine boot with 4 wedges. I have been allowed to weight bear since the day I came out of hospital. The boot stays on even when in bed! I had my wound checked yesterday with there being no problems. Now it is a waiting game. I can take 1 wedge out every 2 weeks and am due back at the hospital in 1 months time. I would echo what everyone else is saying. Just take it slowly - you are not alone. There are lots if us out here going through the same thing.

    Hope you start feeling a bit more positive soon...

    • vicki_57097
      vicki_57097 sarah76801

      Posted

      Hi Sarah,

      thanks for your reply. I wish I could have the surgery, my doctor says 12 weeks in a cast which I really don't want. I'd much prefer surgery and a boot. How is your recovery going?

  • sarah76801
    sarah76801 vicki_57097

    Posted

    Hi Vicki,

    I guess I am one of the lucky ones.... I have had very little pain and only minor discomfort since the surgery. I can't give much advice about being non weight bearing since I only had to manage it for a very few days prior to surgery. I am doing OK but it gets frustrating not being able to do anything around the house. The equine boot is quite restrictive and not easy to sleep in. I tend to make a flask of tea to keep by the chair and I would recommend keeping your leg up as much as possible.

    I go back to the consultant in a month's time.

    keep positive....

    Sarah

  • bally2015
    bally2015 vicki_57097

    Posted

    Hi Vicki

    I ruptured mine playing football last week 10-06-2015. I went to minor injuries hospital as this was closer and they told me I had ruptured my Achilles. They carried whats called a 'Thompson Test' which confirmed there diagnostic. They placed me in cast with feet point in a downward position.

    I was then told to attend an orthapedic appointment the following week 17.06.2015 who confirmed the initial diagnostic. They removed the cast and placed me in a 'Moon Boot' with an appointment to see the physio the following week.

    Throughout this I havent been in pain, havent had no scan, x-ray or anything to confirm their assessment. Wasnt even given the option of surgery! Anyway, the boot is ok and at least i dont bare the full weight of the crutches like I did with the cast. I'm optimistic on the recovery, as i had many footballing injuries (reconstructive surgery of knee three times) so my advice is be patient, dont rush things and rest when you can.....Oh and drink plenty of alcohol to get by!!!

    • andrew_67449
      andrew_67449 bally2015

      Posted

      Hi Bally

      Have they said you can partial WB if not then best not to us leg at all .

      Have you been give any drugs to take (injections ) to prevent DVT ?

      if not then contact them straight away this is very important .

      After a re rupture myself my advice would be to push for a ultrasound so you know the extent of the rupture . If the rupture is a large gap then conservative treatment may not be good enought to heal large gap 

      Ask me how i know !!

       

    • bally2015
      bally2015 andrew_67449

      Posted

      Hi Andrew, 

      Yes with the boot I can partial weight bear, although with my foot tat far forward in the boot this is extremely difficult anyway! so i'm actually putting any weight on it and use my crutches to bear the weight...

      Nope no drugs for anything, to be honest the boot is ok and plenty of movement and im constanly moving my joints...

      I did wonder why i havent had one, but i guess they know the extent by feeling around???

      How do you know lol...

    • andrew_67449
      andrew_67449 bally2015

      Posted

      I'm sure there protocol with DVT should be that you have drugs for it 

      My second visit to A&E they told me I would have to go back on fragmin

      i didn't know anything about they weren't very happy that I hadn't been given it first time round 

      i like you was in a boot first time and still quite mobile but you can't take the risk if you ask me 

      There is a post on here where a Wife lost her husband through DVT  such a sad story 

      They don't do the ultrasound IMO due to time and cost and yes they can tell that it gone by feel but not way can they be that accurate with how much

      They were going to just put me back in a boot after re rupture which I wasn't having and pushed for scan 

      They did scan in the end and I had a 4 cm 

      when I asked if 4 cm would heal in a boot they said unlikely !!

      and they were just going to give me a boot again 

      good Job i asked for the scan 

       

    • bally2015
      bally2015 andrew_67449

      Posted

      Well no-one at the hospital even mentioned the risk of DVT?? I really dont know what to do now. My friend had to take injections in his stomach when he did his achilles last year.

      Thats sad news :-(

      I might contact the NHS helpline just to ease my mind, although Im at Physio next Wednesday, so i might get more information then.

      Well not sure sure how bad the injury is yet, im hoping Physio would outline some extent and recovery rehab...

    • andrew_67449
      andrew_67449 bally2015

      Posted

      I'd ring the fracture clink asap just to be on the safe side

      Beter safe than sorry keep us informed how you get on

      ATB Andy ;-)

    • stephen15408
      stephen15408 bally2015

      Posted

      Bally. Be demanding of the NHS. They should be prescribing Fragmin or similar for blood thinning. Although if you are a few weeks post event, the danger may be over by now. Push for an ultrasound scan to understand the damage. Hope you are progressing well and not too immobile.
    • bally2015
      bally2015 stephen15408

      Posted

      Well it's been 9 days now since I was originally put in cast, now I'm in boot I feel like the blood thinning may be ok?

      As for the ultrasound, I guess going to the physio this coming Wednesday will identify the extent to some degree. I will say throughout the incident and actually doing the injury I haven't felt any pain or discomfort whatsoever, so it's a strange one!

    • brian4109
      brian4109 bally2015

      Posted

      Hi Bally, I wasn't put in a boot, I had a surgical repair and wasn't put on Heparin injections until post op, I asked the orthpod at the time of the initial Trauma clinic appointment as I had a DVT several years ago and he said that there wasn't a real danger from the injury, but there was from the operation, I was on Heparin for 8 weeks, until I had my final cast removed and went into a boot, I have had considerable swelling of the ankle and lower leg, probably from to much walking around in the boot, the physio told me to raise my leg above horizontal i.e. above hip level whenever I am sitting down and the swelling abated in a few hours, the trauma clinic just said to raise my leg
    • bally2015
      bally2015 brian4109

      Posted

      Hi Brian,

      Well I've read that much stuff, everything is going through my mind. Like I said I had non surgical, but really concerned about Blood Clots etc.... Never had history of this, so not sure. Not in pain, but of swelling here and there but thinking this is pretty normal??

    • brian4109
      brian4109 bally2015

      Posted

      certainly swelling is normal, I had a partial rupture initially which seemed to heal ok but then I probably overdid it thinking that all was ok and did a complete rupture, unfortunately i was in Thailand and my insurance would not cover me because we were under martial law, post military coup, so I had to hobble around until I came back to UK 10months later then had to wait another 3 months for surgery by which time the tendon had retracted a couple of inches up my leg so I have a 9" scar up my leg. Sweling was prettty bad at times and has been post op but with the advise from the physio about keeping the leg as high as you can comfortably manage has reduced the swelling back to almost zero, as for pain, except for the initial injuries especially the second one, there was more discomfort as opposed to pain, mainly when trying to walk or push off using the toes when walking on the injured leg. I would get hold of the trauma clinic and ask them for advice reference DVT risks and also speak to your GP as he will have your medical history to hand.

      Best of luck with your progress towards fitness and hope all goes well.

    • bally2015
      bally2015 brian4109

      Posted

      Hi Brian

      Just spoke to A&E department. They have assured me all the correct diagnostics were carried out based on the prognosis when they saw me. I wasn't on pain, I could move my foot, toes and ankle. I could bear some weight albeit not a lot on my toes. So that's the reasoning behind the boot, as for the clotting, again they said I wasn't at risk at all....

      Let the road to recovery begin!!

    • brian4109
      brian4109 bally2015

      Posted

      Sounds good, take it slow and easy and I hope your road to recovery will be smooth
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