Day 36 - the cast comes off !

Well I went to the specialist again and finally after 5 weeks my cast comes off and I have to wear a boot now for the next 2 weeks.

I asked the specialist could I see a physio or something and he said NO !!!

So now I am in a boot and not feeling very happy that I cant start any physio work that will enable me to start recovering quick enough to get ready for the ski trip.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

My surgery was two weeks ago today. I live in Sun Valley Idaho and ruptured my left achilles whihe skiing the back country. My ski wnet under a log.
Thanks for all your postings! I can kind of follow you along and see hwere I might end up.

Bill

Adriano said...

I had rupture my Achilles two weeks ago while playing soccer. It's quite strange the different ways that doctors have to deal with this:
- Since the second day after surgery I have physio (they say as soon as possible start doing slight movements)
- no cast, just the boot with an angle of 30º (it will go to 15º tomorrow I hope)
- they say 6 weeks after surgery i can walk without boot and without clutches...

I hope you are still ok! At the moment I just want the doctor or physio to send me swimming...

Cheers

Cameron said...

I'm following your blog and find it very helpful. I ruptured my AT playing racquetball. I had surgery two days later, and the cast was removed exactly two weeks later. Now I'm wearing the boot (day 16), and I'm walking along fine. I'm a snowboarder, so like you, I'm also hating that I can't be enjoying the slopes now. Thanks for the blog; hopefully in March I'll be posting my pictures from the mountain.

Cheers,
Cameron

Anonymous said...

Hi David

Thought I'd share my experience with anyone else in a similar position to ours. Hope you don't mind me piggybacking on your blog!

I had surgery on May 20th this year, and at time of writing it's the 19th June, so 30 days post surgery. On May 3rd, 2 weeks after surgery, I got swapped from my cast to a moonboot. An amzing relief as I felt sooo trapped in a cast.

Against me doctor's wishes I went straight to a physio (one of the only ones who'd treat me) and started TECAR therapy, which is a machine that helps oxygenate the blood around the area. No specific work on the area itself. However, last week he started some light therapy very near the area, pushing the odema towards the knee.

Also, in the past two weeks I've taken out 2 wedges (from the 4 given to me). The usual diagnosis is dropping one wedge every 10 days. I slightly accelerated that process, and if it goes well I'll drop another next week.

I'm going to give my theory here, which I will emphatically say goes against everything my doctor has advised me, and I would check with your specialist first before even thinking about it.

David's thoughts on getting mobile asap is what I followed. I really believe that my progress so far is due to me returning to a semi normal, crutch assisted walking action as soon as I got in a boot. The strength I built up (basically I went walking around Paris for three days) I think transferred to a lot less atrophy and more flexibility (and hence dropping two wedges).

I'm at the stage now where I'm walking without the boot at home - there's no flex in my ankle, and I walk at an angle of about 110 degrees, however I am putting some weight on it and doing gentle exercises. My thought is I should try to get to 90 degrees as soon as I can, then work on flexibility and strength once I'm at that point. I know progress will be slow then, but if I'm to make a kitesurfing trip by August 20th then this has to be the way!

Derek

David said...

Hi Derek, I agree with you. I remember trying to get my walking action back to a close to normal as quick as i could without having to walk with the foor turned outwards. It worked for me :)

Allan said...

Hey David,

Glad to hear things are looking up. Can I ask you one thing, did you go with the surgery or non surgical treatment?

Anonymous said...

Hey,

I had surgery on my achilles 4 days ago and am keen to recover asap. 5 weeks seems quick to be out of the cast - do you have any tips for me?

Kylie

Anonymous said...

Hey guys,

I had surgery 4 days ago, and I've got 6 weeks in a cast according to my doc. Sounds like you are all making quicker progress (mine was 90% torn if it matters?) Just wondering whether I should shop around and get alternate advice