Achilles Last Stand

[duff beer]

This training log is to track my recovery from Achilles tendon repair surgery. I am a 47-year old male, 5'7", currently 170 pounds (184 before surgery). Pre-injury I could bench 200 for about 8 reps, do about 22 chinups, squat 200 for about 12 reps, and had a slow 5k time of around 29 minutes (down from 23 minutes 8 months ago).

In 1997 I had surgery to repair a torn ACL. While I did some rehab, I let it slide after a while and my left leg never recovered the strength it had before the injury and has been weaker than the right leg ever since. This, is for the most part, due to some bad training habits when running (mostly too much too soon), I suffered from plantaar faciitis, ITB, and occasional soreness in the knees. This led to extended periods of little or no lower body training over the last few years, but for the most part I continued to work my upper body. When the injury occurred, my left leg leg was noticeably weaker than my right.

The Achilles tear happened near the end of July. I was playing in a softball tournament (I had not played for 12 years) and was pushing it by sprinting between bases and doing a lot of explosive movements fielding balls at shortstop. During the 4th game in 2 days I accelerated very hard trying to beat a throw to first base and felt a pop in my lower left calf. It hurt, but not that bad so I didn't think it was serious. I left the game and limped around for a couple days. I finally realized that this was not a sprain, so I went to a sports clinic and was advised that I had torn my Achilles tendon...but not all the way through. I had an appointment the next day to see the surgeon. That night I did a lot of research on Achilles repair surgery reading the pro and cons of surgery vs. no surgery. Surgery seemed to provide the best chance of the injury not recurring, so I saw the surgeon the next day with this in mind. He confirmed a partial Achilles tear and provided two options: no surgery, and then a cast for 10-12 weeks; or: surgery, hard cast for 2 weeks, and then a walking boot for 6-8 weeks. I chose surgery and it was done on July 31, 2009.

The surgery took less than a half hour. I was put in a cast from the toes to just below the knee. The doctor informed me that the tendon had torn about 80% through and that the repair went well.

[duff beer]

Day 1 (July 31): Undergo surgery, put into hard cast. Foot is pointed down to keep the tension off the tendon. I spent most of the next 12 days lying on the couch or sitting in the recliner. I have to sit to pee...

Day 13 (Aug 12): Hard cast is removed and now in walking boot with wedges under the heel. There are 3 wedges which provide a heel lift of about 3.5". I am to remove 1 wedge every 2 weeks. The boot allows me to use the leg to balance when standing, but I am putting no real weight on it.

Day 25 (Aug 24): It's been 12 days and my foot has become flexible enough to remove one of the wedges. With less angle on my foot I can rest a little more weight on it while standing, but I still need the crutches to get around.

Day 32 (Aug 31): I am taking very short steps in the walking boot without using the crutches, but still use the crutches to go any distance. I have also developed a decent sense of balance and have been hopping around the house on one leg.

Day 36 (Sep 4): I remove the 2nd wedge and now my heel now has a little over 1" of lift. I walk a little more around the house, but for the most part am still on crutches.

Day 45 (Sep 11): This is the first visit to the doctor since the operation. For the last 2 days I have been walking in the boot without using the crutches. The doc checks me out and advises that I am healing very well and appear to be ahead of scheule. He removes the last wedge which brings my foot to a neutral position and tells me to wear the boot for 2 more weeks and then I can start to walk without it very carefully.

Day 55 (Sep 21): It's been 10 days and I get rid of the walking boot. I am walking with a limp and am taking it very easy. Today I walked from my car to my desk (300 metres), make about dozen trips to the printer, and a couple other walks to go for lunch and break. Total distance covered is about 1 kilometer.

Day 56 (Sep 22): This is the second day without the boot. At lunch I walk to a mall across the street and take one lap around the inside and head back to work. Total distance walked at lunch was about 2 km. Total for the day about 3 km. The limp improves as the day goes on as the tendon stretches out. I take it easy in the evening as I don't want to push my luck.

[duff beer]

Day 54 (Sep 26): Today I was almost limp free and did a bunch of yard work that had been neglected in the two months since my injury. It was so nice to be able to walk around and get a few things done. I was able to cut around the trees in my yard with the push gas mower, do some weed whacking, clean the garage...that sort of thing. Then later in the afternoon I went downstairs to get something from the freezer...I have been taking it easy on the stairs, going flat-footed to keep the stress off my Achilles, but in a moment of absentmindedness, I forgot for a split second that I was still healing and went back up the stairs the "normal" way...on the ball of my foot with the heel extended over the step. That's all it took...once my entire body weight was put onto my leg, I felt the achilles tear again!! Damn it!! I was so mad at myself for being such an idiot.

This was on a Saturday. On Monday I went to see the surgeon who did the operation and he confirmed what I thought...I had re-torn my Achilles. He sent me for an MRI and on Thursday he called and set up an appointment for the following Monday to "discuss my options". My options were limited...I had retorn what had been repaired, and also did some more damge...again, it did not tear all the way through, but it was damaged to the point where surgery was my only option.

My surgeon was unavailable due to scheduling and asked if I minded seeing another surgeon for the operation. I had no problem with that, and was scheduled to have surgery on that Friday.

I am going to continue this log, and will be starting back on Day 1 from the date of the second operation.

[LisaS]

That's too bad about the reinjury and 2nd repair.
Do you think you were out of the boot too soon or just bad luck?

[duff beer]

ROUND 2:

Day 1 (Oct 9): I had surgery at 7:30 this morning. The surgeon said this surgery was a little more invasive due to the increased damage, but he did not foresee any problems other than I might experience more pain the first few days than last time due to the larger damaged area that had to be repaired.

I was put in a much smaller cast this time...it covered the top of my leg and foot, but was open at the back and was much lighter and more comfortable than the cast I had after the first operation. One advantage to this cast was that it did not press on the incision from the operation which increased my comfort level. However, the surgeon was correct in saying that my leg would be more sore than after the first operation. I took about 4 or 5 Tylonel 3 during the day due to the discomfort, and had to take another during the night so I would be able to sleep.

Day 2 (Oct 10): My leg was sore all day...I took 3 painkillers during the day, and 1 overnight.

Day 3 (Oct 11): I woke up mostly pain free, I took 2 Advil with breakfast and that was it. I spent the day with my leg elevated watching TV and reading.

[duff beer]

Originally Posted by LisaS

That's too bad about the reinjury and 2nd repair.
Do you think you were out of the boot too soon or just bad luck?

I wasn't out of the boot too soon, I had seen the surgeon a few days prior to then and was given the green light to remove it as long as I was careful. I just forgot for a split-second that I was injured and made a mistake. It was 100% my fault for not paying attention.

[duff beer]

Day 4 (Oct 12): My training partner came by today and I asked him to move some dumbells and the weight bench up to the spare room from the basement so I could at least do some upper body weights while my leg heals. The spare room has a chinup bar in the doorway. He had been training for ultra races recently and has only been coming by once a week, and I would prefer to work out upstairs rather than deal with the stairs while on crutches.


incline dumbell presses - 60 pounds - 12, 12, 10, 10, 10

chinups - 10, 10, 10, 8, 7