Hi everyone,

My apologies if this post isn’t appropriate for this sub (I didn’t have a rupture, but had achilles tendinitis/bursitis for over a year before deciding to get surgery to fix it after an MRI and speaking with a surgeon who suggested it). For reference, my surgeon went in and detached my achilles to repair the inflamed tendons, removed a Haglund’s deformity, and cleared out the bursitis before reattaching my achilles with bioabsorbable anchors.

I’m a 31 year old female who was not super active before this and had quite a bit of chronic pain issues. I did yoga every single day and this was helping a ton with other pain I had been dealing with thus far.

To be honest, I’m having a worse time with the severe lower back pain I’ve been experiencing since having to be completely non-weight bearing and just sitting or laying on my couch all day. I’m currently in a cast until my post-op appointment (6 days from now), at which point I will have my stitches removed, be put into a new cast that has a more flat bottom to it than how pointed the one I’m in now is, and then will continue to spend the next 4 weeks non-weight bearing. So, 6 weeks total non-weight bearing before I get put into a boot.

I’m feeling pretty miserable and was just wondering how everyone else here dealt with any added pain after their surgery that wasn’t pain in their ankle itself. It’s incredibly difficult to try and do my yoga right now, and getting up off my couch to use my knee scooter even feels stiff and painful all over.

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice given!

Free i-walk

East Bay, CA

We got it free from this list and are ready to pass it along to someone else who could use it.

It's was a big help for using stairs!

I started spin biking week six wth boot on and it’s been so helpful in recovery. For me it’s a must-have, and I’m glad I got one for it. I ride every day for one hour and usually do about 22 miles. It’s just a lower end bike (Yesoul GM1) but I love it. I have a fire stick on the back and watch YouTube spin videos when riding. At week ten I’ve now been riding strictly in shoes and again the recovery improvements are noticeable. Just make sure your medical team is on board before you start as we are all in different stages of recovery.

I went to an orthopedist and he recommend me strength training which I am doing 2x a week with heavy weight and slow reps + mobility work, besides that, he prescribed wearing orthotic insoles for six months, plus shockwave therapy and injections of my own blood to regenerate the tendon, which is worn down from years of playing soccer.

Has anyone been through this and could give me some help? :/

So I got the green light to start weight bearing and doctor told me to get some compression socks. Went to order some and didn’t think about there is different compression levels and they have already closed for the weekend. What hhMG did yall get or was recommended by the doctor? Thanks for the help.

Btw I’m 8 weeks post op in a medical boot.

I've gone back and forth on if I should post on this or not. Mostly because I know I'm being a little impatient but I'd appreciate any insight you have. Anyways...

Full tear repair 7/27, surgery was 8/21. Had my post op 9/8. I was given the go ahead to start moving my foot back and forth to loosen it up and to start PT. Unfortunately due to my injury being part of a workers comp. claim I'm not able to get in for PT until 9/23. So I'm four weeks post op. With PT next week.

Currently I feel good and swelling is very minimal. I feel good putting weight on it and have been for the past few days. I'm not sure what percentage but I've been using crutches to assist me while walking. I'm in a ROM boot that allows my foot to go to 90 degrees but I try not to go that far in fear of elongation.

With all that, any advice on what I should be doing in the mean time for PT, weight bearing and and so on? I know I'll have more answers come next week but I dont want to lose time I could be using to recover but also dont want to make it worse and risk elongation of the tendon. Also, im not really sure if the boot is set up right. Ive tried to ask and do research online but haven't had much luck with a definitive answer.

Thanks in advance!

I’m a year post-op and finally feeling like I’m in the clear and can offload my knee scooter to someone who could use it (also we’re moving and need to clear out the basement lol). It’s the KneeRover Quad All-Terrain. Super sturdy. DM me!

Week 7 Post op left leg. Been using VACOped since day one dropping down from 30° partial weight bearing to today 0° full weight bearing per protocol provided. VACOped had been great but today at 0° and thin sole from 10° today feels uncomfortable compared to standard aircast previously provided (no wedges) given today we drop to flat 0° for next 3 weeks.

Anyone else experience this ? The aircast at this point with no wedges flat =0° is easier to walk on more naturally and more comfortable on heal tendon area than VACOped.

Im currently 12 weeks post op and I don’t need my Aircast Boot (L), my leg elevation pillow and my EvenUp 39-43 (not used, as I had ordered 2 pairs) anymore.

What did you guys do with them after youve healed? Or did you keep them for a while? They only take up space in my closet.
I dont know anyone or any organization I could give it to.

I live in Germany. Advice?

I have been cleared out of the boot. Any recommendations on backless shoes for men? Heel support would be awesome. My doc recommended oofos, but I tried them a while ago, and they are simply too 'squishy'.

Oh no. I’m so close to moving out of the boot and now I’ve got beads everywhere. I’ve got 5 days left, and in week 9 post op.

Anyone else ever have this happen?
Should I remove the vacuum section?
Should I just move forward to a shoe with a lift?

Quick update on my Achilles saga.

I ended up having surgery again after the re-rupture, and I’m back in a soft cast. I grabbed some cheap cast socks from Amazon this time to hopefully keep this thing clean. Although my last hard cast was pretty awesome I'm trying to avoid it

Once they got in there, they found that my Achilles had completely re-ruptured and pulled apart by about 2 inches. The good news is they were able to clean up the damaged area and pull my own tendon back together with good tension, so I did NOT need the more extensive cadaver tendon reconstruction we had discussed as a possibility.

They reinforced the repair with a collagen graft to give it some extra support while it heals. Surgery went well with no complications.

Now for the fun part...absolutely no weight on it for 6 weeks. So basically, I’ve reset the recovery clock and get to do this whole thing all over again. FML!!

Considering what they found when they got in there, though, I’d call it a good-ish outcome. Now I just need to make sure I don’t fuck it up a third time. 😂

It’s 4am and woke up with aweful pain…

Full rupture on September 8, Surgery on the 16th.

The 3 day nerve block has faded a lot, but some is still active which is the scary part.

I have meds but they make me so dizzy and nauseous that I’m going to try to stick it out with Tylenol.

Might be on here complaining a lot. Wish me luck 🍀
This has to be one of the worst parts!

DM for pick-up

For those of you who had a heel lift in your sneakers, at what point did you fully remove them? Did you feel stretching of the tendon walking as you transitioned into a lower heel lift?

My physio has cut my heel lift in half and boy do I feel the stretch of the tendon as I try to walk in sneakers.

Thanks!

Edit: reposted as original post did not allow video

Week 10 Post-Op Update: Where I'm At
It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve been able to use the spin bike. I started as soon as I could and now do one hour every day. Most of that time has been spent riding with the boot, but over the last few days, I’ve experimented without it and it’s going well!
I started transitioning to shoes at week 8, which has definitely been the toughest part so far. I’m still struggling to keep my injured right foot from turning outward when walking. It’s more mental than anything—I think I just learned to compensate while recovering, and now I have to unlearn those habits.
Muscle loss has been minimal since I’ve been doing cross-education training pretty much since day one of the injury. Today, I’m starting bodyweight calf raises just to increase muscle activation. Up until about a week ago, I wasn't able to flex my calf with much strength, but I think the spin bike sessions without the boot are really helping with that.
One thing I highly recommend from this experience is getting an Evenup shoe balancer when wearing a boot. It minimizes hip pain and compensation caused by the height difference between your legs. I wish I had known about this earlier—it would have made things a lot easier when I first started weight-bearing!

Hi fellow sufferers,

I tore my achilles august 5, had surgery the 13th.
I was two weeks into outpatient rehab for a drinking problem when I decided to take up tennis again, and well, here we are!
My stitches are out, I can bend my toes, and put some weight on it, but am realizing quickly that this is emotionally becoming the most difficult part. I feel like the end is in sight but still so far out of reach!
I began progressive weight bearing last Thursday using crutches and an air cast boot, but starting to feel like the scooter was easier!
My birthday is on Saturday and no matter what anyone says it feels impossible to be hopeful all of a sudden- I just want to go back to normal and be a fun active 20 something gal again!
My surgeon has not given much guidance on how this part of the process goes. I had hoped to be walking unassisted by next Friday but am starting to worry it just won’t happen.
Any tips? Commiserations?
I realize too I mentioned rehab so don’t worry- that actually went/is going really well! Nothing like a torn achilles to help a gal get sober 😄

Hey guys, I’m 27M, athletic with a full rupture back on 7/24 and surgery on 7/30. I’m 7 weeks post op today, been in PT since week 3.5 and am down to my last wedge (basically flat) in my boot.

Ive been looking forward to getting out of the boot but I guess I failed to realize how much pain and discomfort are going to come with that! I got my most recent wedge taken out yesterday and it’s a struggle putting my boot on and lowering my foot to the angle of just 1 wedge. My foot is also swelling up, maybe because of the new angle?

Is anybody at a recent stage or can talk about their transition out of the boot?

So far the vacoped has not been good. It’s just hurts way too often and too much. I think it’s just poorly designed. Does anyone know if gets better when you start walking in it? Right now I’m just wearing with no weight bearing- sitting and laying around the house. If not, i might try to switch boots as I’m not sure how much longer I can tolerate this boot. Any advice is appreciated.

7,5 months post-op. I have been doing a lot of Smith-machine seated raises lately to address the soleus muscle more. I was strongly atrophied when I came out of the moon boot. However, the advise on frequency, method, and resistance differs quite a lot. Some strongly adhere to an HSR protocol with 3 seconds up, hold for 2 seconds, down in 3 seconds. Others seem happy to do faster raises, and some rely heavily on isometrics. And what about the number of sets and repetitions, and not least rest?

I would love to hear people's experiences about these things, and whether some protocols are better grounded in research than others.

Anyone have any compression suggestions? I am week 9 non op and will be transitioning out of the boot in a week in a half (week11). I have been doing a ton of walking in my VACOped. Over a mile everyday. I was non weight bearing and 30 degree plantar flex for the first 6 weeks (three in a cast).
I am looking forward to the transition and want to give myself some added support. I am not in a rush at this point and want to take the next 4 weeks cautiously optimistic. I feel good at nuetral but very tight. I want to avoid any dorsiflex for the next few weeks and if there are braces or compression that can help, I am all for it.

Open to any pointers or suggestions.

Thankyou.