Achilles Rupture Recovery

< Note: decided the knees-to-toes measurement simply needs to be done at a time when the tendon is warm … no point in associating a time with it, because the time of day seems to be irrelevant. Actually, perhaps it makes sense to do a cold/first thing as constant reference and then a warmed-up one too … >

Ankle Mobility (stage 3) – aka ‘Morning routine’: This looks like being the ‘paradigm shift’. With a bunch of easy-to-perform exercises, no weights necessary, I should be able to do this anywhere; on top of that, I can cut the reps and/or sets to adjust the time ‘on-the-fly’ from around 35mins for the full unit down to maybe 15mins. Doing the rebound calf raises is also a psychological boost at the moment, feeling like a real bit of progress.
Consistency: 100%.

Ankle Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .

Lower Body Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .

Walking: This week it’s really taken off … my Thursday’s walk to the physio practice was at a reasonable if not fast pace of around 11min/km, BUUT for the first time I walked absolutely normally, didn’t feel the injury at all. Really … not at all. Then the PT confirmed my downstairs walking was normal … no visible artefacts (although I could feel both legs were a little wobbly from the walking done so far).
On top of this, I went for a walk with my eldest daughter on Saturday morning … the same 2.7km round I’ve done 3 times so far; this time, zero fatigue when we got home, despite even hacking it across the field for the last 100m or so; and that same evening, I motored over to my partner’s to pick up a raincoat for a little doggo (staying the night) and some food … which I had managed to forget earlier. I say ‘motored’ as I actually reached a pace of almost 9.5min/km; again, there and back, plus shopping (extra kilos on my back) = 2km and no fatigue 👏 💪 !!

Cycling: Bit of a slack week … only one session; for that, 15mins @ 180W -> peak pulse over 150 🙈. Man, do I have a loooong way to go … buuuut on the plus side: no negative affects at all, which is great!

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

Climbing: Bit of a slack week here, too – my Tuesday bouldering session was somewhat torpedoed by the need to have an important, serious talk with a colleague at work about possible changes, his behaviour and other things -> time critical. Still, I made it there in time to take part in the most important part: the coffee break 😜; one person had to leave after that, the other wasn’t really feeling it, I wasn’t either, plus it was sunny … so we sat outside and talked for an hour or so in the sun with a Bionade. I did, however, do one short, easy up/down 5er route …

My writing has slowly morphed from a therapeutical daily journal to something I don’t seem to find time for; despite the fact I’ve been driving for over 2 weeks, free time per day seems to have become more scarce. Both of these ‘observartions’ are, of course, purely a shift of my subjective take on daily life – even taking into account that the Deutsche Bahn (German national train company) has had to cancel the stretch I used until minimum end of April … which means I’m driving my son to school every day.

Indeed, when one says, “Sorry, I just didn’t find the time!” it is simply a different way of saying, “Sorry, it just wasn’t important enough to me!”. In general, this is a driving force – most likely THE driving force in the vast majority of cases – behind why people don’t do their PT exercises. Me included.

Another reason I have found, however, is the force of habit. That is, the force of habit of NOT doing those exercises. Suddenly, your life is turned upside down; once you get to the point of doing useful exercises (which is pretty much going to be around weeks 3-4, even if it’s then ‘only’ light mobility stuff), that habit of NOT doing exercises every day has to be broken. I’ve found that hard.

The key to the start of it has been fixing a morning routine which can be varied – without guilt – wrt how long it takes. This was a really important aspect (or pair of aspects really): getting in a unit that is going to take at least 45 minutes, directly after getting up, means for most people either going to bed 45 mins earlier or having 45 mins less sleep. Neither is particularly appealing.

In my case, to crack the first aspect (developing a new habit), I worked with Chris to get an exercise unit that a) can be done every day, and b) can be shortened, if I run into time problems – instead of 3 sets, I do 2 or perhaps just 1 set … which brings down the approx. 35 mins to just 15 mins … and that makes it REALLY hard to justify that in my head. Here, the second aspect comes into play: no guilt … since even doing 1 set is better than doing no sets.

While this may all seem logical – it does seem kind of ‘duuuh!’ as I re-read it – it’s taken me over 3 months to get to this point. With this long-term injury, however, I’m long since at the point where I re-frame this as, “It’s only taken me 3 months to get to this point!”.

This morning habit is here to stay, I’m convinced of this. It requires no weights, bands or anything that I need to think about taking with me … so there’s also no excuse or reason not to carry on whilst away from home.

What will surely change, bit by bit, is which exercises I’m doing. I do expect this unit to slowly morph as the weeks and months go by to a) take into account of what stage my recovery is at, and b) at some point no longer be rehab-specific, rather a “mobile for life” unit.

For all this and that, I have my Achilles rupture to thank. Another silver lining.

A series of ernest talks with various colleagues about the need for changes; positive reception for my ideas … except uncertainty from all (including me) regarding my own future position.

Wednesday saw me talking to my ‘shoe brother’, Gotta-ask, for the first time – it was a time-gated chat, due to meetings before and after on my side, but nevertheless, it was GREAT! Always nice to put a voice to a person … and it’s so much more dynamic than messaging (as much as I appreciate that side of things too