Achilles tear in ski crash?

[Darra]

8 weeks post-surgery and I'm walking with the boot and no crutches. Got a follow up with my surgeon next week and my physio says he hopes I'll get the all clear to ditch the boot.

Being able to move around without crutches has been a massive psychological boost.

[pfluffenmeister]

8 weeks post-surgery and I'm walking with the boot and no crutches. Got a follow up with my surgeon next week and my physio says he hopes I'll get the all clear to ditch the boot.

Being able to move around without crutches has been a massive psychological boost.

Absolutely!
Being on crutches long term sucks.
I was wearing a vest-of-many-pockets just so I could carry shit around.

[XXX-er]

i had a boss who put a fold-out piece of wood on his wooden crutch so he could rest his leg on it while standing,
he also screwed a large clamp on his crtuch to carry stuff,
a cup holder is also popular

[Orthoski]

You should be good.
Sounds like the targets are jogging at four months, running/cutting movements at six.

Did you get percutaneous surgery or open wound?
I was in a splint for just two weeks post-op and then into a boot for two more (was still no weight bearing though).
Weight bearing in the boot at week five; weight bearing in normal shoes at week six.
I think I got lucky that my rupture was low down in the tendon which (may?) help make percutaneous a viable option.

I just haven't talked to anyone yet who has it other than myself.

Just to add information, the choices are the traditional open vs. mini-open through about a half inch incision - true percutaneous was tried and has a high rate of nerve injury (sural nerve). Not every study shows an advantage to mini-open but the overall data suggests a lower wound complication rate which is the most feared complication after Achilles repair.

The mini-open allows you to get in a boot within two weeks but doesn't change the fact that the tendon still needs to heal. The key is functional rehabilitation where you move the tendon early, but that's different than coming out of the boot which makes some worry about stretching out the repair (studies show that a repaired Achilles can still stretch out for up to 6 months post-op which can potentially heighten weakness).

In summary, listen to your surgeon, don't rush it, it's okay if you're not out of the boot in 6 weeks (we put people in a boot with multiple wedges and start moving the ankle at 2 weeks and start partial weight bearing at 4 weeks, gradually wean the wedges, but purposefully don't get out of the boot to walk flat until 10-12 weeks to minimize stretching of the healing tendon), would have mine fixed with a mini-open technique but many have success with an open technique, and remember that Durant took a year to get back to play.

Heal up everybody!

[pfluffenmeister]

Just to add information, the choices are the traditional open vs. mini-open through about a half inch incision - true percutaneous was tried and has a high rate of nerve injury (sural nerve). Not every study shows an advantage to mini-open but the overall data suggests a lower wound complication rate which is the most feared complication after Achilles repair.

The mini-open allows you to get in a boot within two weeks but doesn't change the fact that the tendon still needs to heal. The key is functional rehabilitation where you move the tendon early, but that's different than coming out of the boot which makes some worry about stretching out the repair (studies show that a repaired Achilles can still stretch out for up to 6 months post-op which can potentially heighten weakness).

In summary, listen to your surgeon, don't rush it, it's okay if you're not out of the boot in 6 weeks (we put people in a boot with multiple wedges and start moving the ankle at 2 weeks and start partial weight bearing at 4 weeks, gradually wean the wedges, but purposefully don't get out of the boot to walk flat until 10-12 weeks to minimize stretching of the healing tendon), would have mine fixed with a mini-open technique but many have success with an open technique, and remember that Durant took a year to get back to play.

Heal up everybody!

Thanks Orthoski!

I went to PT yesterday and we did some measurements.
When I started PT I had 2* upward range of motion, now 20*! (planar flexion?)
And I gained 10* of downward motion. (dorsiflexion?)
Strength on all axis with exception of dorsiflexion was equal to my non injured foot.

Still around four months to go.

[Darra]

10 weeks post-surgery and now going to PT twice a week. Went for my first walk outside tonight with no boot and climbed 9 flights of stairs after my therapist told me to work some stair climbs into my walk. Range of motion in my foot not far off my good foot and started doing some two footed heel raises today. Recovery progress is looking to be well on schedule.

Worst part of the walk was getting my fat, swollen foot into my shoe.

[pfluffenmeister]

7 months post-op in five days.
Haven't done anything other than a short, slow hike up Monarch mountain during the summer to try and find a lost ski.
My brain is badly starved of dopamine and serotonin.
Anyway, I did the Inclne in CO Springs today (~2000' vertical in less than a mile) and jogged down most of Barr trail.

Hurray! Proof of concept!
Feel good and tired.

[Darra]

7 and a half months post surgery.
Can jog at 6 miles an hour pretty comfortably for 15-20 minutes and can jump and hop forward and lateral with no issues.
But, by fuck, I cant heel raise on my bad foot and cant hop straight in the air.
There's 2 muscles in the calf and one of mine is basically back to normal but the other is way behind - I assume that is why it takes so long for basketball players to get back.
Hoping for permission from the PT to start playing soccer and hit the groomers in the next couple of weeks

[pfluffenmeister]

I skied, I skied!
Last Tuesday, up at A-Basin (the site of my, shall we say, incident?).
The Upper East Wall currently looks like a stone giant's fortress and anyone who had the temerity to climb up and ski down it is clearly a jackass.



Just groomers, but damn it was fun to make some turns.
First run was a little odd mentally, but after that pretty normal.

[2FUNKY]

That’s awesome man!!!

[TBS]

Congrats Pfluf!

[Darra]

Managed to ski Xmas eve and New Years eve on the lower slopes at Alpental, a few runs each day. Not much in the way of grooming so it was a bit more of a leap into the fire than I had planned with plenty of deep snow. No weird feelings in the achilles on either day, so just looking to get the confidence up over the next couple of visits to hopefully reach the upper mountain.

[pfluffenmeister]

/\/\/\ Yes!

[cstefanic]

Joining this cool kid club.

Walking-speed faceplant when I hit buried rocks on a pow day a few weeks ago. Skied on the working leg down to patrol who took 2 people to pry the boot off my foot and then I gutted the puke from the pain. Full tear, surgery 5 days after injury. Glad it was end of the season?

This thread was both good and terrible to read, really enjoyed some of the pro-tips like the cupholder on the crutches--though that got moved over to the knee scooter recently. Bought a 22/23 Ikon, so...let's get this rehab train going.

[pfluffenmeister]

Yow, them there are some staples!
Sorry to hear that.

Good attitude though; I skied 8 months post-op.
PT hard, yet judiciously.

[2FUNKY]

What pfluff said! Wow those are some gnarly staples. Surprised they went in directly on the back.

[cstefanic]

Yeah, just being an idiot dirtbag skier I don't know anything about medicine so am trusting Doc knows what to do, and was gifted with what you see. He said it went together nicely and that I'll be skiing this winter so fingers crossed!

[2FUNKY]

Some doctors have yet to progress to the interior incision. Doesn’t leave the scar tissue on the back to cause discomfort and fitment issues in shoes/boots/ski boots.
Happy healing and take it easy, don’t want to derail the repair, yikes.
Grind during the pt man, super helpful.

[DeathVan]

Good Luck cstafanic.

I've been there...
Can't say more about not being casted and buying the Vacoped Achilles Boot.
-much less atrophy

I was at 100% on the first day this season (9.5 months), 60+ days and counting, took 3rd in beer league (even missing 2 races), and heliskied like an animal.
-I do not even think about the injuries any longer while skiing. Dalbello boots help.

The work you do now will pay off in spades.
Stay Positive!

[yeahman]

Dalbello boots help.

Why is that?

[TBS]

Some doctors have yet to progress to the interior incision. Doesn’t leave the scar tissue on the back to cause discomfort and fitment issues in shoes/boots/ski boots.
Happy healing and take it easy, don’t want to derail the repair, yikes.
Grind during the pt man, super helpful.

All of this
Even with the interior incision, I still rubbed up a raw spot on the scar this season

Follow the PT’s instructions but don’t do more. Being as my PT said “an overachiever when it comes to rehab” set me back 3-4 weeks.

And don’t get too wild with the knee scooter. Head tube angle is really steep. I almost ejected over the bars playing with the neighbor kids on their razr scooters.

[rod9301]

Three part boots are easier to get in, they just ski like shit.

Sent from my moto g 5G using Tapatalk

[cstefanic]

And don’t get too wild with the knee scooter. Head tube angle is really steep. I almost ejected over the bars playing with the neighbor kids on their razr scooters.

Was walking the dog the other day and she pulled and almost took me ass over teakettle. Designers need to take a hint from DH bikes or something.

[XXX-er]

What pfluff said! Wow those are some gnarly staples. Surprised they went in directly on the back.

the pliers they use for staple removal are not pain free IME but its easy to self-remove and less painful by cutting them down the middle with side cutters and picking out the ends with yer roach clips

[cstefanic]

Remolding the boot to account for my fatass new foot topography. Hoping to get on some groomers soon, on today's 9mo surgery anniversary.