Day 123 - running faster now

Well I have had quite a few jogs now. On the weekend went down to the local lake which has a 4 km running track around it. Thought I would just jog a 1/3 of the way around and then come back but I felt so good I went all the way around. Even started to really stretch out to a full sprint over the last 300 metres.

That night it felt a bit sore low down in the ankle but by the next morning I was ok.

The only worrying thing is my achilles tendon is still massive in size compared to the good one. It is chock full of this hard fibrous material. For example - my good achilles tendon is about 1.5 cms wide and 3 cms long down near the base of the ankle. My ruptured one is 3 cms wide and and you can feel 13 cms long of this fibrous material.

This is going to be my next battle - how the devil do I get rid of this fibrous mass !!!

Playing squash tomorrow - wont be anything too strenuous. Just a restricted game with me not sprinting forward.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi David, First of all thank you again for your ideia of blogging the ruptured achilles "fans". As I mentioned before I became one of RAT man, at Portugal,at 30 June 2008 and yesterday was my Day 49 and my first in OT hands.As you told me one of sucess critical factor for general rehab was the OT approach and it was confirmed yesterday when I really felt the "too many pieces" inside my foot. The fibrous mass that you talk about is really there and my OT said that will remain during 6 (!!) months. I´ll wait and see... Regards; Carlos Gaspar

Anonymous said...

yes Carlos, trying to get rid of that Fibrous mass is going to be our biggest challenge. I am off to see my OT tomorrow and ask does he have any ideas. If he does - i will share them. Best of luck
david

Unknown said...

DAvid,
I actually first saw you ont youtube when i did a search on achilles tendon. Just wanted to drop a note and say the vids and this blog are very helpfully for us recovering from this injury. I can get quite depressing sitting around when you are used to be so acive. Good to hear all is well and thaxs.

rob

Paul R said...

Hi David,
I have just found your blog site. I watched your videos on You Tube and only found your blog site a few days ago. Lots of information and I see you managed your skiing trip. I am 47 years old and also live in Perth WA, what a great place beats the English weather. Like you I’m very active and I enjoy keeping fit which makes the injury even harder to deal with. I ruptured my right Achilles running/sprinting.
I ruptured my Achilles on the 2nd August, went to my doctor on the 4th August who diagnosed it to be a sprained ankle. On the 6th August I thought I would get a second opinion, I didn't have much confidence in my Doc so I went to my physio who did the Thomson test and yes it was an Achilles tendon Rupture. On the 12th August had an ultra sound and it was confirmed a complete rupture right Achilles. I Went to see my surgeon in West Perth and was booked in for surgery on the 19th August, 17 days after the injury. So For the next 2 weeks I managed to hobble around. I had surgery which lasted about 40 minutes and all went well apart from a little nausea. My surgeon said there was a bit of old scar tissue which must have built up of the years, but otherwise the tendon was in pretty good condition for my age. I had an open cast just below my knee and didn't require any pain relieve. One day in hospital and then I was discharged. Over the next 10 days I had no pain at all apart from a bit of swelling and tingling in my foot which disappeared when I elevated. On the 11th day post op I went to get my staples removed which I must say was bloody painful especially the last few near my heal, all up I had 20 staples was placed into a Cam Walker boot and told to apply a small amount of weight on the 3rd week and on the 4th week FWB.
The next few days the incision was very tender and painful and I had to take pain killers to help with the pain, it felt like a stabbing and burning sensation.
I’m now 4 weeks post op. I take the boot off when I can to keep my ankle and foot moving and I’ve had several visits to my physio who concentrates on massaging my calf foot and ankle area to keep the blood moving. On Tuesday 16th Sep I have an appointment with my Phsyio and she will then change the angle of the boot to 0 bringing the foot to 90% and FWB.
I have an appointment with my surgeon on the 24th September so I will see how it goes I’m hoping to be out of the boot by about week 7.The boot is driving me mad and when I try to place weight onto my foot the Velcro straps irritate the incision area. I can’t wait to ditch it and start walking in a shoe. My surgeon is taking the aggressive approach but does not want to rush it too much. I need to recover pretty fast so I can return to my job. I will keep you updated on my progress
Regards Paul R

Anonymous said...

Hi David, I read your blog right after I had surgery. I rupture my Achilles on July 26 and had surgery on the 30th.I'm 49 years old and been an athelete all my life. My doc put an open cast on me for 10 days. He then removed the cast and staples, The Doc put me in a walking cast for 4 weeks as long as I promised not to walk on it. He gave me some stretches to do, flexing,extending and writing the alphabet with my foot. I was very diligent and followed his orders and 27 days after surgery I started physical therapy and walked in the boot without crutches. 48 days post opt I took off the boot and started walking without any aid. Now I'm 73 days since surgery and I'm on the stationary bicycle, lifting weights, swimming, and started using the ski machine as long as I don't extend. Luckily my orthopedic has me on the fast track, I feel very lucky and I haven't abused it at all. When I feel pain I stop and wait a couple days until I'm ready for that movement. Our ski season starts in 70 days and I've been told that I will be completely ready for it without any limitations. Your blog has helped me a lot. Attitude is the number 1 curer of this injury.

Anonymous said...

I made a mistake when I said our ski season starts in 70 days I made a typo it start in in 40 days.

Anonymous said...

Hey David:

Thanks for the blog. I ruputured my Achilles a little over 2 weeks ago, surgery last week. It's good to know what to expect. Thanks for the perspective. Regards, Russ

Anonymous said...

David:

Many thanks for your comprehensive and actually up-lifting running commentary re. the ATR, which we apparently all have in common. You have done us all a great service!

Anonymous said...

Hi

I have posted at David's previous milestones - but this will be my last post! I would say that I have recovered.

I am back playing squash twice a week plus gym sessions 3 times a week, in addition to walking every night at least 2 miles (full speed) with the dog. I am taking the squash easy for another month and then playing normally again - not for any other reason that I am going on holiday and don't want to take risks at this point.

The tendon is still much thicker but that is the only problem. The hardest thing for me has been curing the slight limp whilst walking at pace. I think that it has been due to the weakness of the muscles between the tendon and the calf muscle, just due to inactivity whilst in the cast/boot. I have now stopped other forms of stretching etc.

A big thanks to David for taking the time to write this blog and also for his replies to my personal e-mails.

Jeff UK

David said...

Thanks for all your tips and comments Jeff and well done in getting yourself back on track so quickly :)
May see you in 2012 for a game of squash :)
David