22nd May 2014
Approximately 3 weeks since my last post when the boot came
off and I started on physio exercises. I spent a couple of days weaning myself
off the boot. One of them involved a day in Dublin watching the Giro D’Italia
and so involved a lot of walking and standing so I was glad I wore the boot
that day. Since then I’ve been bootless and walking in thick heeled shoes or
runners with a heal raise insert on my bad side. The first few days I was
walking very delicately and wasn’t really engaging the tendon in my gait.
However, I have been doing the 3 physio exercises strictly and can really feel
an improvement in strength when doing the exercises. I also found my walking
has got more normal however I’m still not walking with a limp and if I don’t
concentrate I tend to walk flat footed and not engage the tendon.
I have been able to swim and have swam every 2 or 3 days.
It’s a big relief to be able to do some exercise after nearly two months of
inactivity. The first swim session I felt really slow and weighed down – it was
like I was wearing a big woolly jumpsuit in the water. The second session felt
much better at the start but I got tired pretty quickly. The last few sessions
I feel like I’m getting back to a normal. I still can’t kick off from the wall.
I’ve also been able to cycle on a static bike. I put my road
bike on the turbo trainer and have taken off the cleat pedals and put on a pair
of flat pedals. Again, this felt sore at the start but has started to feel a
bit better. I have increased the time on this up to 40 mins. I have tried to
stand up as if I’m climbing and I can handle the pressure of being on my toes
but my ankle does get sore fairly quickly. So based on this I don’t think I can
take the bike out of the garage for a few more weeks. This is the hard part
especially when the weather is good.
I was back in to see the physio last Week morning and she
was pleased with the increase in strength and flexibility (I haven’t been doing
any stretching so this was a surprise). She messaged my calf muscle which was
very painful at the time but has felt much better since. Also, she massaged a
bit of the scar tissue either side of the surgery site. There is a lot more to
do here as my tendon is really fat and hard along the scar compared to the
narrow tendon on the other side. I have to continue with the band strengthening
exercises on a green band now and introduced some shallow squats and increase
the pressure on the heal raises. I have to go back in a weeks time.
Overall, at 8 weeks post surgery I’m very happy with
progress. From a lifestyle perspective I’ve been able to function normally
since about 2 weeks post op and start to exercise at 6 weeks. When I compare my
recovery to some of the others I see then my progress does seem good. If you
look at this guy who is only getting his cast off at 8 weeks and starting to
weight bear now then I’m streets ahead
Update 29th May
Things have continued in the same vain. I’m still doing
strengthening exercises 3 times a day and I can feel the tendon very slowly
getting stronger. I have been doing 35 or 40 mins on the turbo trainer every
second night and swimming 2 or 3 times a week. Then last night, it was really
sunny and warm so I said I’d try go for a spin on the bike. I did 40mins and it
felt fine, well the ankle felt fine but I ran out of puff after about 10 mins.
Just shows how quickly your fitness goes. My ankle is a little bit sore this
morning so I’ll have to build back up slowly.
Back in with the physio this morning and I’m onto double
heal raises and single heal raises whilst supporting myself with my hands on a
bench or back of a chair. She has started to massage the Achilles itself trying
to break down some of the scar tissue – theres a long way to go and a lot of
scar tissue to break down.
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| This is the bad leg - you can still see the scars from the bike crash but the operation scare has almost disappeared |
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| This is the good leg obviously but is a good contrast because you can see the width that the Achilles should be and the rest on the bad leg is scar tissue. |
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