I've ruptured (snapped) my Achilles and am contemplating my options for recovery. There's study's on wether surgery is the best option or not and the results are very grey.
Can you let me know if you have had experience with this injury and what course of action was taken, if you were happy with the recovery time frame and strength of calf/tendon afterwards.
Im heading to a specialist surgeon tomorrow to try and get the right info. I am aiming for full recovery in 3 months which is half the normal estimated timeframe.
Cheers,
George
I thought you'd just use Duct Tape...
Just kidding...I'm sure you'll bounce back quickly, Not see much keep you off the water so good luck and speedy recovery George.
3 months...Are you hoping to be fit for Peru?
Hi George.
Thats a very nasty injury. Sorry to hear it.
I've got a number of friends who've had the same injury (both males playing netball which tells you something). High impact stop/start sports are the worst.
A couple of my mates fix them up. Here is a summary.
Basically
Surgery - Lower rate of re-rupture in the future.
- Risk of infection which is a real mess if it occurs
- You still need a cast but maybe only 6 weeks.
Cast - Inconvenient and annoying to wear for a long period
- higher re-rupture rate
- no risk of infection
- Slower recovery time frame
Most active people go for surgery. That doesn't make it necessarily the right decision though.
I think either way the rehab is pretty full on and rebuilding calf strength and tendon flexibility is critical to not having future problems.
Hope you get a good outcome whatever you choose.
Martin
My injury is not the same, but may be of some use to you.
I have had a achilles tendonopathy for around 10 months. Treating it conservatively with physio and rest. Currently about 8 weeks into another go at rest (meaning doing no sports... no running, cycling, windsurfing). Have done several periods of reset before, but I did some mild sports (including sailing) over the summer.
Conservative treatment does not seem to be working for me. I wish I could have gone under the knife when it first happened, but most want to treat this injury conservatively. I am currently 2 months without doing anything except physio exercises (stretches and strengthening) and it is no better. I doubt it will be in another 2 months. I am predicting I am going to waste the winter (which would be the best time to be in recovery) and finally someone will agree to go for more aggressive treatment to ruin my summer by being stuck in a cast or something!!
I am amazed how difficult the achilles tendon is to work with and get to heal.
Cheers,
Adrian
That's sux Adrian, I'm booked in for surgery on Thursday so fingers crossed for a fast (3 month) recovery.
Hey Adrian,
Is your physio pushing your rehab towards an eccentric (the lowering phase of a calf raise) strength training program? It is pretty much the only recognised exercise program that can work. And the worst part is the program is painful to perform. I recall one study stating that if the program is not causing pain then the load has to be increased. You should see results after , but more likely to be 12 weeks of training.
good luck
Darryl
Hey Darryl,
I have done so many eccentric heel drops!!
Mine seems to have a few key differences to what I research other people feel. My pain is never that sharp. I can do pretty much anything I want to do and will not experience the sharp debilitating pain most people report that forces them to stop running. In fact mine feels best when I am doing activity (cycling is my most frequent activity), but will then be worse afterwards. Mine is painful all the time. Sitting at my desk typing this it is painful. Walking is painful... but I experience a dull pain like 2-3/10 most of the time, but after activity it will be like a 4-5/10 for a couple of days. Doing heel drops does not cause more pain... just the same as walking really. If I sail and cycle as I normally do over summer, it will be 4-5/10 pretty much constantly. Rest at least gets me back to 2-3/10. ALso, normal shoes cause pain, so I am wearing slipons pretty much constantly for the last 6 months to get pressure off the heel area.
Unfortunately my first attempt at heel drops (about a month after the pain started) I hit them pretty hard, and the bad ankle did not mind, but the good ankle seemed to suffer because of doing so many lifts! Since that time my better ankle has not been quite 100% and causes me pain at times. That is most strange, as I never felt any issues in that side when the left started, and it got a months rest with the left. The best I have felt over the last 10 months was in a graduated return to cycling over Jan/Feb (while doing stretches and heel drops and foam roller calves) it was feeling pretty good. I stopped sailing around mid Jan at request from Physio. I then started to join my usual riding bunches in March which ride pretty hard, and one hard ride seemed to put it back to square 1, so I have been off the bike since then (about 2 months) doing stretching and heel drops twice a day. My physio has recommended doing them to flat (not on a step) as I have some pain around the lower heel also which is not supposed to respond well to going below level. I have not ramped up weight in a back pack as the physio has recommended against this.
Anyway... just a description of my condition. Always looking to try something new. Trying dry needling at the moment.
IMHO the Achilles is one of the worst parts of your body to injure. I would prefer to have come off my bike and broken something and be completely out of action with a lot of pain for 2 months than the 10 months of moderate pain not being able to do pretty much any activity that involves my legs.
Whyner, I think the surgery is the right choice if you want to be back quickly. All the best with it. I suspect you will be sailing before I will!!
Cheers,
Adrian
