Oddbean new post about login | logout I ended up getting surgery. From everything I read I got to avoid any kind of dorsiflexion action for the first 8-10 weeks. I am on week 5. If you stretch the Achilles early in recovery from surgery it heals in an elongated state and you'll never get full strength back. I got my boot yesterday with heel lifts inside. I can finally try to stand and put weight on it while in the boot. I can barely walk but should get easier. I am itching to start rehab. In a couple weeks I can finally start doing some things when I get out of the boot into a shoe with heel lift. Was yours partially torn or completely torn? What made you decide against surgery?
Complete tear, but I knew right away what I had to do re not going into dorsiflexion. Just needed to get the cast ASAP and I did. Surgery outcomes are about the same as conservative so long as you’re in the cast inside of a day or two. The heel lifts are funny eh, you get wheeled into the fracture clinic (here in Canada anyway) for the cast removal and then they tell you that you have to walk out lol, real baptism by fire moment. Sounds like you’re going to do this without me telling you but walk on that thing with as much load as possible in the boot ASAP and often. I was pacing my hallways basically all day every day for the duration of the boot phase. How did you find the surgery? I assume it’s still two weeks in a cast after right? And do you have that rehab sheet everyone gets? I wonder if ours are the same.
I see all the top athletes end up getting the surgery, so I figured there was a reason. From what the doctor told me, the main benefits are less of a chance of retearing it in the future and a little more strength in recovery, but surgery has its risks, like blot clots, so everyone gets to make their own choice on it. The surgery went well, and I was so knocked out. Experienced no pain and had no complications. Blessed, everything went well. I got put in a splint for the first 4 weeks. The first 2 weeks no movement at all, after which I could do small stuff. I had a decent amount of swelling for the first month, but it is slowly getting better now. I got my boot this week. The first day felt so weird, and I had some pain trying to walk. A couple days later, I am up and down the hallway like a madman. A lot less depressing. I have been following the Ohio State document I found on Achilles recovery in regards to exercises and timelines for that. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/-/media/files/wexnermedical/patient-care/healthcare-services/sports-medicine/education/medical-professionals/knee-ankle-and-foot/achilles-repair-protocol-2019.pdf?la=en&hash=69FC2CFD07F0677199BF20749A5A0C89DAA928C3 When did you tear your achilles? How are you now. Did the non surgery route work out for you? Do you feel like you have fully recovered and how long did it take?