Achilles Rupture Recovery

< click! > went the lock as the door closed … with the key on the inside. Aaarrrgh!!!

I had been really looking forward to this being the first properly relaxed day since before Christmas: no visitors, nothing planned other than a physio appointment in the afternoon … time to finally dedicate more time to exercises as well as this project. Then my partner locked herself out. Could happen to anyone – I’ve locked myself out, but at least I’d never left the key in the lock; indeed, with a key on the inside of this lock, a second key from the outside was useless in our case.

Buuut … bummer: turns out, her flat has a different (more secure) kind of door frame to prevent explicitly this. I found this out the hard way: I tried and tried … and then a neighbour came out. Now, here you have to remember my partner only just moved in about 3 weeks ago; this neighbour I had never seen before, so it seemed likely he hadn’t seen me. I tried to explain, but he was shaking, not listening, disappeared back into his appeartment. Great, I thought … the police will be on their way in just a moment! I mean … I don’t look threatening at the best of times 😅, and I’m not sure what thief is going to try breaking into an apartment with a hiking rucksack, a little black dog and crutches, but this guy was scared.

Anyway, nothing came of all of this … no police, no successfully opened door – we ended up getting a locksmith out (who also struggled a bit, took him half an hour or so and he had to take one of our spare keys to pieces) which was expensive. But all’s well that ends well – again, perspective helps: we weren’t trying to rescue a baby alone in the apartment with a fire broken out!

Last night and this morning: ’twas cold … very cold. In fact, so cold that one of the train tracks at my local station broke (the pic shows just 8:30; overnight it dropped to around -19°). That kind of put a bit of a spanner in the works wrt getting to the climbing gym … but a bus was heading out shortly before 11am, so no big deal. Where there’s a will …

It being a public holiday here in Bavaria (“The Three Kings”), I took my time: I’m gradually working out a bit of structure into these Tuesday visits, starting with some low traverses in the boulder hall, along with some static hangs / route starts plus a handful of low-level ‘cyclic’ moves – all low-risk, no proper bouldering, just getting used to the grips again and the tendons / muscles used to being active. From there it’s upstairs to the little gym corner to do some dips, pull ups, hangboard work, etc. Finally, it’s off into the actual climbing hall – despite low risk, I’ve opted for complete zero loading of the foot (knee pads); tripoded a IV/4er (5.4) and 2 x V/5er (5.6) routes today.

Positive Moment(s): Today, my granddaughter (6) and her parents return home – no, that’s not the positive moment 😅! Rather, a funny moment came as a result of my granddaughter and partner finding my ‘speedy cornering’ from the front door of the building around the side and down this little pathway amusingly slooooow: they saw me leave the building from the main sitting room window and waited for me to walk past the kitchen window … and waited … and waited … but I was just warming up (my tendon) and concentrating on slow, steady, even paces (plus there was snow on the ground). So it took me absolutely fucking AAAGES to get there. Hence the new name: “Sprinterstrasse” (sprinter street) 😁 😎 !

(BTW: I was lucky enough to be able to take today, tomorrow and Friday off from work to concentrate on this transition period – am super glad I did so, even if I did spend a short time here and there checking emails).

The ‘Big Day’ didn’t get off to a great start: on the way over to my partner’s place first thing for a coffee, it’s dark, I overlook a dirty block of ice on the street, right next to the curb … as I step into the street, my heel catches it and I stumble. Aaaargh – my worst nightmare at this stage! Maaan, was I grateful I was wearing my boot. Hence, nope, definitely not shucking this boot for outside travelling while the weather is the way it is!

Yep, stumbling, slipping, tripping, all those ‘hidden’ dangers. In my hall I actually have a couple of carpets: I have been considering whether to rip these out. Despite taping them down, they do end up coming loose sooner or later (as was one corner, again). Still, we have salty ice and snow and grit being dragged into the hall, and the carpet does act as a kind of ‘first line of defence’. So I ended up at least taping down the carpet in the hall in preparation for a ‘catwalk’ performance.

My ‘shoe buddy’ in the Netherlands (u/gotta_ask) faced some snow at his end too, having to battle his way through ‘arctic conditions’ 🥶 … and that was just to get to his car to drive to the hospital for a final check up and ‘release to walk’ 😅. Would have loved to have seen the sales peoples’ faces in the local sports shop he then went to, with him walking in in a VACOped boot to ask for some running shoes 🤣. And then he got motoring nicely 👏 💪 🙌 🙏 ! And that was all after I’d gotten a couple of messages from him on my mobile … only saw the second one on lock screen initially, it read, “First steps in two months!!” – I thought, “Nooooo!” thinking his doc had sent him to the waiting bench 😅. Misunderstandings happen so fast.

At my end I’d decided to do a warm-up with the dog at the local ‘nature island’ – I find something like 500-1000m in the boot makes a huge difference to how ‘smooth’ and relaxed the tendon feels; I was determined to get it ‘nicely oiled up’ before stepping out for the first time. Plus lil’ ole doggo simply loves the snow and benefits from playing in it 🤩 . It ended up being nearly 3k steps, ‘cos Fini was just having so much fun 🥹 … so I was well and truly warm.

Once back home, it was time. I set up the camera, and off I went, trepidation abound. Just 5 minutes, that’s how short that first session was. But in that time I went from 50% PWB to crutches off the floor; my gait was ok, too, if not brilliant and somewhat variable … but no real limp. It was better than I’d feared, that’s for sure!

Positive Moment(s): Well, apart from the obvious (my own first steps), it was just so nice to see a fellow rupturee have such a good experience taking his first steps. I think it really brings you together when you go through this kind of extreme experience (the injury) together, particularly if you can share some of those high points / milestones – it’s been one of the biggest positive things to come out of this tough time for me, making what I think and hope will be a great new friend … doesn’t happen often once you reach adulthood, I’ve found. Plenty of acquaintances, yes, but real friends … that takes more time and effort and you can only keep up high quality relationships with so many people. I just pray that we both make it through without a re-rupture 🙏 🤞.

My first practice run on Thursday at home, with about 500 steps, was fairly smooth – a couple of ‘snapshot videos’:

I saved some ‘gas in the tank’ for the evening’s local physio session: I wanted to get onto the treadmill, get my ‘official green light’ with an introduction to how to operate it. All went fine, if a little wobbly; even got a massage afterwards as my PT had a little leeway before the next person was up. Managed to forget to get that first treadmill session filmed though 🤦‍♂️ … even had my mobile in my pocket, but I was just so preoccupied with ‘walking the walk’ that I forgot to ask him to film me. Oh well, I’ll get that covered tomorrow …

Positive Moment(s): I’m WALKING … in SHOES!! (’nuff said 😁 😎 !)

It’s kind of like waiting for glue to set … or rather, you’ve mixed some 2 component epoxy glue and have a 15 minute set time during which you can start work. Then someone asks you if you have a moment … the washing machine is playing up / the internet isn’t working / choose your particular flavour of ‘evil’ 😜.

What I mean is: I come back from walking the dog (with the boot on) and want to start my walking exercises (without the boot) … but first I have to get the dog and me out of wet, cold clothes, fix up the dog’s breakfast, get the boot off, the heel pads swapped, the ‘walking shoes’ on, etc. … However, to minimalise stiffness during the walking practice, I like to be as warmed up as possible, to have that tendon ‘nicely oiled’ … and it’s just shocking how fast that tendon cools down and stiffens up again – seems like 15-20 mins is enough already, even <10 mins is enough to feel a difference 😵‍💫.

But assuming that all went ok, you still need a significant area to walk in … otherwise you’re doing more ‘twisty-turny’ moves than actual walking. So, today I thought I’d try and increase the size of the area I have to walk in my living room and set up the camera a bit better … all worked nicely. Actually, I had to rein myself in, as I was getting so into it that I realised not only had I been walking on and off for half an hour in the shoes, but that I was almost beginning to ‘groove’ to the music I was listening to 😬. Walking vids to come.

That was all after I’d trecked over to my partner’s and back … in the rapidly-becoming-slush snow; the nice part of the snow was done, the snow ploughs had been hard at work, and I had to navigate the icy, slushy snow and, at the same time, try and avoid getting a shower of the really liquid, salty, dirty water off the road. Gotta lurve the Bavarian winter when it’s like this 😅:

Later on, it was time for some cardio and a treadmill session at the physio practice. The treadmill, going at 0.5m/s, is super slow (under 2km/h or just over 1mph); I was actually supporting some of my weight on the rails during this take in order to avoid the left-to-right-to-left kind of a penguin ‘waddle’ which comes from walking so slow (because it’s more balancing all your weight on one foot, reaching the other forward to find the right place to put it down as the treadmill ‘zooms’ by, before shifting your weight to that foot and repeating for the other side). Also, at just 1.5° inclination, it’s still a way off the normal ‘push-off’ mechanics which you have in real life, I was told – the PT says he likes to work with around 5-7° to make people actually work.

Positive Moment(s): Seeing my little doggo enjoying the snow, even if it’s shitty slushy stuff in town 😁 !

Limps are funny things. Walking out the door into the cold wind and icy conditions, I was stiff anyway … slow steps, glad to have a crutch if only to prod the pavement here or there, testing for black ice. In some places I willingly walked 50m or so in the road with oncoming traffic because it felt safer – or at least more predictable – than walking on the badly cleared pavements.

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Weights to B’s; crawling around the apartment to avoid putting the boot on but avoiding the risk of walking.

Positive Moment(s): My partner’s ex-mother-in-law, “Omi” (Granny), really wanted to go out for a meal with my partner, my partner’s youngest daughter (21) and myself. So we did: great Bavarian food was had by all … I had a really nicely done steak with ‘Bratkartoffeln’ (pan-fried potatoes), and then ‘Apfelkiacherl’ (3 apple fritters) for dessert; all superbly prepared and presented. Whilst we ate (and a few very small, rare and non-spiced bits of meat disappeared from my plate in her direction), our little doggo entertained the kids there, as well as going on the occasional exploratory trip 😁.

Did my first unintentional dorsiflexion stretch in bed this morning 😬 – usually I’ll stretch everything out (leg straight, toes pointy -> safe plantarflexion) … but occasionally, I do it differently, for whatever reason. Didn’t get very far, though – fortunately I stretch slowly, and my tendon sure told me ‘Stop!’. Still, it’s one of those things that can quickly lead to the old ‘Snakes and Ladders’ dismay of being well up the playing field … and then sliding back to square one (x 1 million). Still very occasionally get edgy about sleeping out of the boot, even though I’ve been doing it now for a few weeks.

Also: ‘just going to the bathroom!’ – recently, I don’t put my boot on for a pee if I’m in bed … I crawl. This has led to much amusement on the side of my kids, my partner and other visitors 🥹 … but fuck it … in fact, as I often say when I screw up my German and produce some kind of literally laughable ‘Frankenstein’ sentence: it’s nice to be able to entertain people so much with so little effort and at such low cost 😜! Anyway, of course you have to be careful … and this reduces risk to a minimum when compared with hopping from A to B.

What is still non-negotiable for me at the moment: getting into the shower, even if just for a ‘local clean-up’ … then it’s “Boot on, boooy!” 🫡 – a wet bath tub has got to be one of the most risky things for this ‘9-13 danger-zone’: a single slip, a reflex move, aaaand … back to square one. If it’s a full-on shower with the boot foot getting cleaned, of course the boot comes off … but only once I’m firmly sitting on the shower stool with all necessaries in place so I don’t have to get off that stool until the boot is back on!

Positive Moment(s): I’m still enjoying the simple pleasure of cool cotton bedding on my overly warm affected foot! And some vegetarian quiche I bought at the market yesterday 🤤. And, this evening, some cheese ‘flutes’ with a glass of red wine.

Calf size:

At least the atrophy of my affected calf seems to have halted.

My non-affected calf might even be a little bit bigger … although I’m not putting any money on it 😅

The first bits of research I found (see my collated white papers on elongation) seems to suggest that further elongation is minimal after the 3 month mark, assuming no sudden trauma.

Still doing 15-20 unweighted seated calf raises every time I take my boot off or put it back on again; both feet and knees together for a constant ‘sanity check’ on style and height. If I’m pushed for time, it’ll be 15 fairly fast-ish ones, otherwise I try and take time for 20 slow ones.

On Monday I filmed the 3 extra exercises from Chris again; I also upped the left/right by lifting the foot off the floor completely to make it more of a balance challenge; on the forward/backward balance exercise I also added the ‘affected foot at the back’ – he’d said I shouldn’t do this for the first week, that first week was done yesterday.

Tuesday saw a new gait exercise being added to the daily ankle mobility drills: a single-foot step-through cycle to simulate the movement I need to replicate continuously when actually walking; I also filmed the 18kg/40lbs seated calf raise (3rd set) with a couple of reps from the non-affected side for reference.

The lower body strength unit (which I have been rather neglecting – wanted originally to do it at least 2, preferably 3 times … struggling to do it more than once every 7 days at the mo 🙈) has me doing goblet squats and RDLs at 11kg (with the new smart kettlebell); wall sit at 1min; calf raises (only non-affected leg) are all at 100% body weight. Still struggling a little with the side planks.

Walking: With the introduction of actual walking in shoes on Wednesday, with twice daily sessions of around 20-25 mins, I am beginning to have some minor aches and pains. I would classify these approximately into:

• relatively consistant pain across the balls of my toes, around 2-3/10, depending upon loading;
• sporadic coming-and-going 1-2/10 pains around the base of the tendon at the heel, or around it in the lower 1/3 towards the ankle bone;
• slowly growing discomfort to 1/10 pain in the Achilles in the second half of the walking session

On the last session today, for the first time, I thought to use my Bose SoundSport Pulse to record my HR … won’t bother adding it this time, but for the future! Will become more relevant as my walking takes off into the ‘real-real-world’.

Cycling: no change here … still at 120W @ 30mins on the Physio Practice stationary bike; managed 4 units this week. Unfortunately it only occurred to me on Friday that I was losing an interesting part of the HR analysis by stopping the sport app as I finished actually working 🤦‍♂️ (thanks to gotta_ask!) … so at least as of Friday I have/will be recording HR for another 5 mins of rest afterwards:

Climbing: After a reasonably strong start on Tuesday, I dialled back and skipped the planned Thursday and Sunday sessions. For one thing, apparently in my sleep from Wednesday to Thursday I did something to my right shoulder; this got worse until yesterday afternoon … at which point, in a very short space of time it was (mostly) gone. Very odd. I did say ‘mostly’ because I can still feel a bit of ‘zicking’ – need to get into the habit of at least taking a pic, if not a short vid, of where, what, how these things are.

‘Flat’ sole (also known as ‘medium rocker’): I’ve been considering ‘manipulating’ this sole to give it a bit of an angle and, more than anything, get rid of that dorsiflexion-inducing lack-of-heel. The question is, whether it makes sense at this stage. Chris has given a nod to a couple of weeks more boot outside during the snowy period (with which I’m thinking he considers that the limit / initially an assumption my side); it will also depend how fast I become confident with the shoes, I guess. But an adjusted angle (lower than the wedge but higher than the rocker) would be beneficial for the remaining days, weeks that I’m still wearing the boot; on the other hand, I’ve made it this far with the wedge …