Achilles Rupture Recovery

Monday brought some fresh, wet snow mixed with sleet … on top of ground that had been sub-zero the majority of the time for the last weeks 😬. So I stayed at home. Other than going to see my GP: I’d gotten feedback from the social advisor at work, who’d talked to the works’ doc and recommended I get myself written off sick for one day a week; the GP said, particularly as most people would get themselves written off for 4 weeks (and I’d only been off for 1 week), she’d be happy to help. Was that easy. (It’s to compensate for the extended PT effort)

Monday also means physio appointment with the ‘boulderer’ PT: walking to the practice means I’m warmed up, then I get a few steps in the fitness area. He said my gait has improved a lot compared to last Monday … no more “pirate’s leg” 😅 … but for that, my upper body is very wooden; his words were that I “needed to get back some swag!”. Challenge accepted 😁 😎 !

It’s also physio appointment day, like Monday (but with a different PT). He said he was hard pressed to find any real deficits as I walked around the fitness room; on the treadmill, however, he noticed I occasionally dragged the unaffected foot, he thought as a kind of ‘snatch’ reflex … I think it might also be a slight balance issue, particularly on the treadmill at slow speeds – it’s just really different from ‘normal’ walking.

We also checked my double calf raise with weighing scales under one foot (after him having doubts that I was really loading the legs equally … and I have to admit, in this pic it does look a bit biased to the non-affected leg).

Yet again, I managed to forget to ask him to take a photo of that … buuut it actually showed I was pretty much 50/50; I also decided to get extra weighing scales for my bedroom, with ‘remote display’.

Thursday had me thinking about driving again. I’ve decided to wait until I can get behind the wheel safely before I re-start climbing on Thursday mornings – now have a meeting at 9-9:30, so this really makes it impossible until I’m more mobile. I’m just not sure how to really know that I can do a full-force safe emergency stop without trying (and succeeding). A helpful page showed that the forces applied to the brake pedal really are pretty high, as I’d thought, with an average of around 850N (similar to 85kg), and some people applying up to 1600N (160kg). In comparison, normal braking forces lie around 90N (9kg) which is obviously no big deal.

Friday I had kind of a good news / bad news realisation: the ball of my 4th toe no longer hurts … but for that the ball of my 3rd toe. And my big toe still hurts at every step. And my entire ankle and outer arch of the foot after doing a small slow round with my eldest daughter whilst waiting for my new glasses to be corrected (wrong lenses assembled in the right frame). At least it’s all 1-2/10 pains, nothing worse, and I expect it’ll all fade in the next few days.

Whilst doing that slow round, I also finally got around to registering my accident with my private accident insurer (his office was on the route, it triggered my old memory 😅) … not sure anything will change as a result – the medical care is basically all taken care of by my normal medical insurance, but there might be some compensation, for example for the part of the physio bills I’m paying (1/6th).

Positive moment: Yes, that was pretty great already, but then, as the evening neared, the REAL miracle of the day happened …

You see, we’re a patchwork family, as I’ve kinda mentioned; the relationship between my 15yr old and my partner (specifically wrt my 15yr old’s view of my partner), has been problematical. Now, my partner had her two godchildren over for the night and had planned to go to a local pizzeria; she let me know when and where, said I was welcome to join them of course; I extended the invitation to my 15yr old (as usual), fully expecting him to decline (as usual) … but he said YES!!!! Not only that, but he explained that the younger of his two sisters had talked to him about the ‘lay of the land’ and he’d seen that his negative view of my partner was essentially down to my ex’s ‘hate talk’ 🙏!

Best. Thing. Ever.

Positive moment: As usual on a Sunday afternoon, I went bouldering

Ankle Mobility: Currently, this unit consists of a) scar massage (also non-ops), b) ankle pump, c) active inversion and eversion, d) seated ankle dance, e) seated heel slide, f) sit-on-heels (ankle plantarflexion stretch). Additionally, there are 3 gait drills: a) weight shift progression, b) march-in-place, and c) step through.

Ankle Strength: Starts with a) 8 x plantarflexion isometric, b) 12 x banded ankle eversion, c) inversion, d) and plantar flexion, e) seated weighted calf raise (20kg / 45lbs), f) double leg calf raise – bridge/supine, g) double leg calf raise – straight, h) single leg balance.

Lower Body Strength: 1 set comprises of heel elevated a) 10 x goblet squats / b) 10 x kettlebell RDLs (with 17kg / 37lbs, initially with 5kg / 12lbs weight); c) wall sit (75s – up from 30s), d) 10 x straight leg calf raise (non-affected only, unweighted, but that needs to change), e) 10 x bent knee side plank/leg raise (each side), f) glute bridges, g) 10 x supine resisted hip flexion (each side), h) 10 x bent knee calf raise (non-affected leg only, unweighted ok).

< NOTE: all exercises have been demonstrated via video snippet in earlier posts, will try and link later >

Walking: See Thursday’s entry for 25s on the treadmill (last bit of a 10min session); see Sunday’s entry for 10s walking outside near to home (last bit of a couple of mins).

Cycling: Currently, I’m working with my local physio practice (2 x 20min sessions a week) – there I also typically do cardio on the stationary bike 3-4 times a week (120W @ 30min) plus, in the meantime, a couple of 10-15 min treadmill sessions.

This week saw me ditching the boot as already noted; this meant doing a short ‘trial’ stationary bike session in shoes for the first time on Monday, with a more or less return to normal parameters on Thursday. There were no noticeable ill effects; next week I shall start ramping up slowly.

(Note: benefits of low load cycling for Achilles rehab)

Climbing: Whilst I’m aiming to return to at least a 3 session a week rhythm, I am not so fixated on this that I will ignore other ‘signs’. In this particular case, trying to get back to the Thursday morning session was just too much effort during a work week where I’m struggling anyway; the Sunday afternoon session I ditched because of the swelling from Friday, plus generally feeling slightly ‘over-exercised’.

Even the Tuesday this week went a bit short: no climbing & no gallery exercises. Instead, it was basically more of a social event plus a little light traversing. But it’s early days … no beating myself up for missing ‘scheduled training’, rather a more tolerant taking into account of where I’m physically at, doing some ‘second-guessing’ of my AT wrt what it’s up to and what it’s not.

Exercise sessions: < still not really sure if this is the best way to display these stats … 🤔 >