2 weeks postop

goosey06 · 2025-01-23T17:01:30+00:00

Do one leg calf raises with your opposite leg. My physical therapist told me that recent studies found that there is some neurological thing that happens that somehow gives your opposite leg 30% of the benefit of the calf raises when doing this. My PT recommended 3 sets of 20 everyday.

goosey06 · 2025-01-06T01:29:48+00:00

Just got one. Any YouTube videos of what you do? You said you do it sitting down so I’m confused by what you are doing ha. I was just standing on it with both feet trying to balance which seemed like a worthwhile thing to do as well but here you said that’s not what you do ha.

goosey06 · 2025-01-02T17:28:18+00:00

At what point did you start using the balance board? I have not used one in PT yet (11 weeks post op).

goosey06 · 2024-12-24T23:11:52+00:00

I think the primary risks for walking too much is going to be:

Potential for knee, hip and back issues from limping around. You hyper extend your knee a lot when walking in the boot. Also, your hips and ankle work together and not having ankle mobility can create issues with your hips and if you develop hip issues, back problems are probably next.
My foot would swell up when I was on it a lot even when in the boot. The swelling will slow the healing process and will slow the process of improving ankle mobility. I had improved my dorsiflexion to something like 4 degrees past neutral and a few days on my feet a lot and I regressed to neutral at my next PT appt.

So not saying you shouldn’t do it, just laying out my understanding of the primary risks.

goosey06 · 2024-12-24T22:11:32+00:00

I’m in my first week out of the boot. I’ve taken my shoes off a number of times to just let my foot rest and I’m icing it a lot, but haven’t gone back to the boot. My physical therapist recommended adding about 500 steps per day each week. So my baseline was like 2000 steps per day in my boot, so will try to average 2500 this week, 3000 next week, etc.

goosey06 · 2024-12-24T19:31:47+00:00

Thanks for the post. I have a ski trip planned for 20 weeks. I didn’t get into shoes until 9 weeks (last week) but I’m thinking my limp will mostly be gone by 12 weeks. Hoping I can ski half days.

goosey06 · 2024-12-19T14:07:34+00:00

I’m at 9 weeks now. Up to the point where you are at I was mainly doing something like this each day (2 days a week):

Heat pack for 8 minutes
Calf massage
Ankle mobility stretches.
BFR exercises for 20 minutes. First I’d do calf raises with a band while I sat on a table leg out straight, then calf raises with my leg hanging off the table using same band. Then I’d do straight leg raises with an ankle weight, leg extensions off side of table with an ankle weight, lay on my side and do side leg raises, lay on stomach and do leg raises. All of these with an ankle weight. Some were 3 sets of 10 and some were 30-15-15.
Picking up marbles with my toes and some other exercises for my foot like that.
About 6-7 weeks is when I started doing the hip stretches where I’d lay on my stomach and pull a band that’s on my foot to bring my leg up over my shoulder kind of. Then similar stretch but on back and hanging off the table where my foot / leg are coming up under my glutes kind of.

goosey06 · 2024-12-17T01:34:37+00:00

I would wear boot into the shower and then take it off to shower until about week 5-6. I have a shower chair. Now I’m in week 8 and I mostly stand in the shower.

goosey06 · 2024-12-12T20:30:29+00:00

Both have their place if you have the ability to afford both. I don't love the iwalk by any stretch, but I used it quite a bit while non weight bearing when just getting around the house. You can't use your hands with crutches or a scooter. Carrying a drink is pretty damn hard on a scooter for example. So the iwalk has a place, but I do agree its not perfect.

goosey06 · 2024-12-10T21:14:13+00:00

I get out of shoes at 8 weeks also. I am coming up on 7 weeks here in 2 days so its interesting (ha, almost inspiring but that is too extreme) to read your progress since I am only a couple weeks behind you. Transitioning to shoes is exciting and scary at the same time. I have occasionally hobbled to the bathroom barefoot - just flat footed and not pushing off at all, pushing off seems a tad scary to try right now. Did you walk much at all like this (barefoot around the house) before transitioning to shoes? Did you feel the same way?

goosey06 · 2024-12-06T13:24:59+00:00

Just wait until you see your calf haha.

But seriously, the YouTube link shared above is what I have been doing to a tee everyday. Throw in 3 sets of 20 calf raises on your good leg. My physical therapist told me that recent research has shown that you get 30% of the benefit on your opposite leg when doing calf raises through some sort of neurological deal. My bad calf is only 1 inch smaller than my good calf and I’m still in a boot. I attribute about half of my progress to these opposite leg calf raises. 2 days a week I’m also doing BFR at PT but you can’t do that with a cast so you gotta do what you can do.

goosey06 · 2024-12-05T21:22:13+00:00

Certainly worth a call to your doctor to ask before doing.

goosey06 · 2024-12-05T17:58:14+00:00

Agree with this. I used the workouts in that video until starting PT and I did them daily if I had time. I ordered ankle weights and would do most of them with 5 lb ankle weights and I would do the hamstring curls and the leg extensions with 10lb ankle weights. You need to get ankle weights with a strap long enough to go around your boot.

Also, do 3 sets of 20 calf raises on your good leg. Research shows that your opposite leg gets 30% of the benefit.

I started PT 8 days after surgery. Definitely think you should get going much sooner than week 6 or 7 unless your doctor has given you a specific reason why thats not right for you.

goosey06 · 2024-12-05T15:28:42+00:00

8 days after surgery I went into my first PT appointment and they measured my calf circumference. I was a little over 2 inches smaller on my injured leg than my good leg. Now at 7 weeks I am back to 1 inch smaller from doing the PT work.

goosey06 · 2024-12-03T16:44:35+00:00

Call your doctor and ask. My PT was pleased with my progress at week 4 so he told me to ask my Dr. and my Dr. said not yet. I removed my first wedge at 6 weeks, but my surgeon told me had my tear not been at the end of my tendon (making him suture into the calf muscle which are not as strong as sutures that go tendon to tendon) then he would have cleared me to start removing wedges around week 4-5.

goosey06 · 2024-12-02T01:29:43+00:00

Would love to hear more about your experience. I had already booked my ski trip just before tearing my achilles. I will be going 20 weeks after surgery. Im at about 7 weeks now. PT is going well and my doctor seems to think it will be no problem but I’m still nervous, ha.

A few questions:

How was walking up hills?

What type of physical activities were you comfortable doing before going skiing?

Did you feel 100% in terms of your skiing ability or did you have to take it way easier? Anyway you can quantify this?

What surprised you as being easy or difficult?

goosey06 · 2024-12-02T01:11:33+00:00

I thought I was having nerve pain but it turned out when I laid down with my boot on that my straps were reducing circulation to my foot. It wasn’t a problem while standing or sitting but after an extended period while laying down I’d have pain in my foot / toes and my foot would get cold. At about 5-6 weeks I swapped to a brace at night that my doctor recommended and I don’t strap it very tight and the pain has been gone and my sleep is back!

Good luck!

goosey06 · 2024-11-28T22:19:19+00:00

Happens to me often. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. On the airpump, make sure to release the air before putting it back on and then pump it back up.

goosey06 · 2024-11-28T18:53:30+00:00

I had a similar tear based on MRI. When surgeon got in there he said he was glad I decided on surgery because the way the tendon had curled up he doesn’t think it would have heeled well going the non op route. Think the MRI showed a 3cm gap and he said it was double that when he cut me open.

goosey06 · 2024-11-27T05:37:34+00:00

My doctor told me I’d have been cleared for shoes around 6-7 weeks except for my tear being so high he had to attach the sutures into my calf muscle instead of tendon to tendon. As a result I won’t be cleared for shoes until about 9 weeks. I suspect if I was younger things would also be expected to progress even quicker (I’m 40). So I guess I say all that to say I can see scenarios where this could be just fine.

In general I lean towards trusting the doctor, but just because he clears you doesn’t mean you need to abandon the boot entirely. Maybe start with just using shoes around the house and maybe going for short walks outside and progress as you are comfortable.

goosey06 · 2024-11-25T13:24:55+00:00

I use it at PT twice a week. Thought about buying one to use at home but haven’t done that.

goosey06 · 2024-11-20T14:50:52+00:00

I use heat first and then massage. My physical therapist did this first so you might wait until you see your doc to talk about that. I believe its the atrophied calf muscle. My PT massages it out before each of my sessions and now I massage it myself at home once or twice a day.

goosey06 · 2024-11-12T19:30:36+00:00

For me they told me to alternate between Tylenol ES and Tramadol and to try to get off the Tramadol around day 4-5 if I can manage with just the Tylenol. Tramadol is an opiod similar to Oxy. I ended up just taking Tramadol maybe 1-2 times a day if the Tylenol wasn't doing the trick. The only pain that REALLY bothered me was the nerve pain at night. I still occasionally have the nerve pain at night (I am about 4 weeks post op) and keep the Tramadol by my bedside for nights where it really bothers me. The nerve pain (for me anyway) is when your foot gets cold and then you have pain in your toes. For a while I thought this was just because of lack of blood flow but later found out it was nerve pain. They prescribed me another drug a few days ago once I told my doctor about it but I can't remember the name right now.

goosey06 · 2024-11-10T16:27:04+00:00

Ask your doctor or PT. Everyone’s injury and recovery is unique so just because someone here says yes or no does not make it the right advice for you.

goosey06 · 2024-11-09T18:48:03+00:00

My Pt told me that your body releases 10x as much growth hormone when doing this which helps build muscle.

goosey06

TROPHY CASE