Ruptured my achilles on 4/25/15

Hi James, im glad that some of these stories are giving you hope. The stage your at, for me was probably the hardest part.I just started in to my 3 months, and i have to say the goal is eight weeks, then things start to feel less overwhelming (for me any way)

I have just been cleared to put weight down while in a shoe and do some biking.

If your tired of sitting around and have some money, I invested in a device called "iwalk" it has a prostetic limb and you strap your knee in to it. It really helped me, i was able to do household things and even walk slowly on the tredmill helped keep me sane. If you have the time look at it on the internet.

How have things been for you so far? Pain, swelling?

Continue keeping on

-Erika

Ok i shall have a look.

In terms of pin i dont have any and the swelling is only present if i have been standing up for more than 30 mins. although that is getting longer each day.

the only problem is that my leg is now getting itchy. i guess that is the problem with a cast.

yeah i am looking forward to the eight week mark i think. just gone over a week now

Sorry to hear abt the added barrier, i hope that the injections are not to painful.

Its good to hear that your up and walking and dont have to much pain. I am going in to week 11, and I have a bit of a limp and I have to force myself to remember to keep my foot pointed straight. I have been very lucky, i havent had much swelling, some when i 1st started weightbaring.

Are you okay with the idea of being done with physical therapy? That seems early to be finished.

Hi, I basically started taking weight on my foot when I got up in the mornings, I went to the bathroom without the boot taking a lot of the weight on crutches, and after a few days I was able to take more weight on my foot, as I said the boot was causing me problems with the pressure sore and with swelling, after about a week or so I was able to move around the house without crutches or boot barefoot at first but now able to walk almost normally in shoes although with the pressure sore I have to be carefull which shoes I wear as the heel of some shoes rub just on the dressing causing discomfort, the wound itself is now quite small but it is covered with a 4" dreesing with a silver anti bacterial pad underneath. I have only seen the consultant once since the op, all the other post op appointments have been taken by a nurse practitioner, including arrangments for physio from his ortho team, as I said I have had three appointments with Physio ( now signed off) and one more with the ortho team in 8 weeks. all the dressings are done weekly by my GP's practise nurse, I am fortunate enough to have use of an automatic to drive (my daughter's) but I have driven a manual albeit very gingerly, I take one day at a time, try a little exercise and stretching, standing on a small step doing calf lifts but I haven't stopped gardening and DIY building, it keeps me sane and if it tires me or fell any pain I stop. By the way I live in Malvern which is very hilly and was told by the Physio to do brisk walks and try walking over rough ground a little every day and to listen to your body it will tell you when you have done enough

I hope everything goes well for you.

Best regards

Brian

Hey Dom, sorry to hear that the consult has been disappointing. I started out slow, and it was quite painful at 1st. Have you been doing weightbaring in the boot? My physical therapist Started to have me do 5x 30 seconds of 50% body weight (on bad leg) as tolerated. When i first got in to the shoe, and walking with crutches I experienced extreme light headedness and shortness of breath. I went to get tests for blood clots. Everythibg came back normal, i think the streching of the achilles caused some of the symptoms.

I just had to take it easy and I stayed in the boot about another week. I have been out of the boot abt 2 weeks. And had some pain today so I tried to dtay off of it for a bit to give it some rest.

Best

Erika

Hi Brian, sorry delay.

Thanks so much for your reply. I am so pleased you are on the road to recovery, very enlightning. thanks for sharing your experience. I hope your pressure sore will heal soon, must be a right pain (scuse pun) 

I had my first private physio today with a really nice chap, someone i could finally spend quality time with with the main focus of my injury. No rushing and who was reasurring to say the least. He spent good time talking about my historic sporting activities etc.. and lots of time giving the wounded leg of deep massage to the scar tissue. also gave me tips on some basic exercises to get it stronger. It was the first time i had rotated the foot in 12 weeks which was scary because the thought that the tendon hadnt healed properly. Obviously this is mind over matter and should of healed by now (12 weeks post op tomorrow). I need to be strong minded..

Can i ask you what shoes you wore at walking stage? special ones or normal ?

Many thanks again

Dom

 

Hi Erica

yes i do the weighbearing in the boot. I dont uses crutches now and really close (i think) to ditching the boot. I intend to carry out some exercises without it every day to give strenghth and confidence.

lets hope by next week i am bootless :-)

Many Thanks

Hi Dom, when I started I had the problem with the pressure sore so i wore a pair of backless trainers I found in Brantano's they were fairly wedgy in shape and have a smalll heel cup and most importantly comfortable, I now wear Fit-flop sandals the have a what they call a wobbble board centre the ball of the foot a separated by a soft region rather than the usual stiff spine of "normal" shoes, they make your calf musle ache a little as you have to grip more with your toes than shoes but around the house I tend to go barefoot mainly because of the MN tends to make slippers etc uncomfprtable, I also wear theatrre clogs as I was a medical technician and spent most of the latter part of my working life in operating theatres, your Physio sounds brilliant, the NHS guys barely give you 15 mins and even then they may have three patients booked at the same time. The presssure sore now is the only area that is giving me any problems, normal shoe backs press just below the area and pull on the pressure sore which can be painful, I agree that fear of further damage tends to be the biggest bar to progress. one exercise that I did in pysioo that gave me a lot of onfidene was useing a trampette, holding on to wall bars and bouncing on it stretched the calf muscle quite strongly and it is fairly low impact, just built it up slowly and then stated dong alternate leg bounces, I went and bought one for myself with a handle to hold on to, its a bit of fun as well, Just a big kid really lol. But like everything take proffessional advice and if ti gets too uncomfortable, stop. people who say you have to work through pain are wrong, you can cause serious damage if injury isn't looked after properly, pain is there for a reason it isn't brave its stupid to ignore real pain.

take care

Brian

PS I will post some pre and post op photos in the next few days

 

Hi Brian,thanks for your advice. sorry delay replying. trampoline sounds fun. I bought some shoes today which are smart looking for the job i do, they have comfy soles and i took a further step by buying memory inner soles..they are really comfy. lets see.

btw,,I saw an NHS physio today, the lady was really good and yes it was only 20 mins but she gave me a couple of daily exercises and advised to keep using the boot for a bit longer. She suggested i take it off for a couple of hrs a day and not to continually walk on it as it needs more time to get some supportive strength. I feel she is right as i am not confident at all walking without a boot at this stage. Slow burner is the key imo. 

She also suggested i start walking bootless with crutches to get used to a more natural walking motion, something i am struggling with. I have a weekly appointment set up with her, which is good going.

I also have my private physio tomorrow morning, that i am looking forward to, as he give a deep massage that i found great last week.

errrrr, it is a slow slow process this injury but i feel i am getting somewhere now.

One great thing that i have started doing in driving, I drove for the first time today and thats a triumph! wow.

I hope all is well your end.

 

Hi Dom I an understand  how you are reluctant to rush things, I appear to be quite lucky with my progress,my foot and ankle still swell but there doesn't seem to be any consistent reason why I will have a restful day and it swells, or a day when I am on my feet most of the time and no sweling at all and vice versa, I went to Tatton park flower show today 2 hours drive each way (automatic) but walked around the show for 3 1/2 hrs with very little discomfort just felt very tired when I got home.

i am fortunate my wifw is a masseuse and I get a deep tissue massage weekly, quite painful at times but I think it helps, the biggest problem at the moment is the ulcer, I cant get the dressing wet so showering means sitting on the edge of the bath, I resorted to removing the dressing to have a full shower the other day and replacing the dressing afterwards with micropore to hold it in place, absolutely wonderfull ! I have to take my own car foor MOT next week so that will be the firs time driving a manual since my op except to turn the engine over so the battery is OK, the clutch is fairly light and its only a mile or so to the garage so it should be OK

t upload an image just click on the icon on the right next to the smiley, the pic has to less than 2meg but they upload well.

All the best

Brian

Hey Dom, how are things going? Are you running?

Erika

Hi Brian, sorry delayed response, wow thanks for the photos. my injury looks similar but my scar goes up about 10 inches higher up my calf. will try and upload a pic..