I ruptured my Achilles tendon on my right (i.e accelerator) foot and had surgery yesterday. The rupture was about 9/16" from attachment point on heel. While they were in there, they ground off both a heel spur and calcium deposit on side of foot as well. It involves worker's comp so I don't want to discuss incident details.

I'm only looking for firsthand Sigforumite experience (i.e. directly involved - self or caregiver to spouse, child, parent, sibling, etc) with Achilles tendon surgery (i.e. not neighbor's 2nd cousin's baby mama).

Question:
For only people who had surgery on their right (i.e accelerator) foot. How long from surgery until you were driving again?

Choices:
4 to 5 weeks
6 to 7 weeks
8 to 9 weeks
10 to 11 weeks
12+ weeks
Never resumed driving
I just like to vote in polls

Question:
How long from surgery until you were wearing regular shoes (i.e. not a walking boot) again?

Choices:
2 to 3 weeks
4 to 5 weeks
6 to 7 weeks
8 to 9 weeks
10 to 11 weeks
12+ weeks
Never resumed walking in normal shoes
I just like to vote in polls

Question:
How old were you when you had surgery?

Choices:
Teenager
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
70s
80s
90s
I just like to vote in polls

Question:
How many years ago was the surgery?

Choices:
0 to 5
6 to 10
11 to 15
16 to 20
21+
I just like to vote in polls

Question:
How long were you in physical therapy?

Choices:
1 to 3 weeks
4 to 7 weeks
8 to 11 weeks
12 to 15 weeks
16 to 19 weeks
20+ weeks
Never had physical therapy
I just like to vote in polls

 

No input on the polls, but rest up.
Shoot me a text if you need a hand with anything.

Well Aaron Rodgers returned to action in 77 days which is probably a record A lot depends on your age health status and drive to get better,

I have been dealing with plantar ficiatis and achilles soreness. Feeling like I have a partial tear of my achilles.

I like to hear more about your issue if and when you can discuss it in detail. Hope your recovery goes well tator.

Not directly on point but I tore mine; no surgery but it took me a year to get back to normal with my foot in a boot twice. I was in my 20s. I had PT but I don’t remember how long it was. I learned to drive with my left foot so I wasn’t stuck at home. If you’ve ever driven a stick or a tractor, it isn’t hard to learn to drive that way.

Good luck in your recovery.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I have been dealing with plantar ficiatis and achilles soreness. Feeling like I have a partial tear of my achilles.

I like to hear more about your issue if and when you can discuss it in detail. Hope your recovery goes well tator.

Thanks.

See a podiatrist as they treat both Achilles tendons and plantar fascitis. If it hurts in both areas it could be a bone spur(s) which they'll see with an inexpensive x-ray.

My Achilles tendon was fully ruptured/torn and retracted into my ankle. Prior to surgery, I had my first ever MRI on ankle/foot (had plenty on knees, shoulders, abdomen, etc). It showed the full rupture, the bone spur on heel, and the calcification on side of heel.

Then, the radiologist's report began discussing the rest of the foot and that is where it got interesting as I've never discussed my 2018 bout with plantar fascitis with any doctor. Instead, I self-treated and managed with Sigforum recommendations and Amazon Purchases (e.g. plantar fascitis Sleeping Stretch Boot, a foot roller {my personal trainer pointed out that a frozen bottle of water is better as it kills 2 birds with 1 stone}, and powerstep insoles). I've kept it under control with stretching and by wearing arch support insoles in everything from slippers to shoes, and even have arch support flip flops. Anyway, back to the radiologist report of "mild chronic plantar fascitis involves the central cord origin with thickening and inflammation without a focal tear."

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
I learned to drive with my left foot so I wasn’t stuck at home. If you’ve ever driven a stick or a tractor, it isn’t hard to learn to drive that way.

Good luck in your recovery.

Thanks. I live in major metropolitan area with 7.8 million people and a metric shit ton of very aggressive drivers. My first car was a stick and I can see driving to the corner store, but leaving the neighborhood gives me 2nd thoughts.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
No input on the polls, but rest up.
Shoot me a text if you need a hand with anything.

Thanks and will do.

I have a pretty good support network for myself. Friends and neighbors are checking in on me several times a day, neighbors have brought over meals, people have picked up stuff from store/pharmacy for me, teenage neighbor gal is tending my garden, a neighbor is driving my truck once a week, etc.

Trying to talk a different neighbor (i.e. the one with the nice Street Glide) into taking a short ride on my motorcycle and ending the ride at a gas station to put in a dose of ethanol shield in it then top off the tank with premium. I'll be lucky to be riding by February and don't want that GD ethanol fouling up the fuel system.

Thanks tator. No bone spur and had xray for that.
The PF has been bad and is now better but still an issue. Achilles pain was worse when the PF was worse. So they seem to be connected. Figuratively and literally speaking. Neither is pleasant as you know.

quote:

Achilles pain was worse when the PF was worse. So they seem to be connected. Figuratively and literally speaking.

That stretch boot I linked stretches both the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon. It's extremely effective if they're just tight and need stretched. If either is torn, I'd be leery of both the amount of stretch and duration of stretch that boot provides.

In pushing a dead car in the course of my then-work, I ruptured my right one in July 2012, when I was 53. I can't recall the recovery timeline with enough certainty to vote in the polls. I can tell you that I had surgery to splice it back together, put in a cast, then transitioned to a walking boot, then out of the walking boot and OK'ed to go back to work, but "light duty", not to lift or push more than 10 lbs. In my (now former) business, there's no such thing, nor could it be done from a desk. During the post-walking-boot period, I received physical therapy. I drove my car, but gingerly pushed the go pedal and used my left foot on the woah pedal. Also, there was persistent swelling and a discomfort every time I took a step, and my work required hundreds of steps per day. So, back for more physical therapy. I finally went back to work at full duty in March of 2013, some 10 months after the injury. If your work is less physically intense, you can go sooner than that.

I'll also mention that during the physical therapy phase, I went out for a walk and/or rode a loaned exercise bike every day. This was not fun. It was the entire winter of 2012-13, and it tends to be cold, rainy and even snowy here. I also got chased by loose dogs and had some uncomfortably close moments with cars, until I found safer places to do so. I had to force myself to walk upright with my head up and on a swivel and with a normal gait, no shuffling or limping.

There is still a slight lingering effect, but not enough to be bothersome. I can't stand on tiptoe on the right foot, nor can I stand on it and leverage my body up. This was deemed a small percentage of disability, for which I was offered and took a settlement of $5700 from workman's comp.

Egregore, thanks for sharing your 1st hand experience. I'm about 2.5 months shy of being 53 so pretty much the same age as you when you were when injured.

I'm an engineering manager in our capital projects group so my job is not ordinarily physically demanding (ie sitting, standing, and walking in an office). However, the day I was injured I was visiting the project site at an oil & gas facility doing perhaps the top 2 or 3 most physically demanding activity of my 29 year career.

Normal work day in office is 3400 steps, but I'll be home officing for the next 6 to 10 weeks. I don't own an exercise bike but do have an elliptical. Additionally, I live in Texas so the weather is finally changing to the season it's pleasant to walk outdoors.

As someone who has repaired numerous a tendons in the last 27 years, although on animals. First injuries at the bone attachment heal slower, bone heals slower than soft tissue, especially the older you get.

Second there is no correct answer on your survey. You are healed when the doctor says you are via ultrasound or mri.

Probably not what you want to hear, but that's my experience. Hope this helps. Praying you heal quickly .

Tommy

Thanks horsedoc

How’s the pain meds treating you today tatortodd?

I normally live alone. With one leg out of commission, doing my own cooking, errand running and having to climb in and out of a tub to shower, this was nearly impossible and, in case of the shower, hazardous, so for about 4-5 months, until I could get into a walking boot, I stayed at my brother's house.

For pain meds, I was given a narcotic whose name ended in "-codone." This wasn't worth a shit. It works by getting you so high you forget you have the pain. I didn't like the high feeling (it made the room spin around), nor the constipation from hell that it gave me. The pain was mostly a constant dull ache, with occasional spasms when I put my feet down to get around the house. I mostly lived with it, taking OTC ibuprofen I misremembered this, but it was some kind of pain reliever when it got too bad. When I got home I flushed the narcotic down the toilet. Because I was forced to sit around so much, I was also prescribed an injected anti-clotting drug.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

It’s got to be pretty bad for me to take opioids. Usually messes with my stomach. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen do a very good job.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
How’s the pain meds treating you today tatortodd?

Doing OK. Thanks for asking. I left the house for the first time today and that went OK.

It's been 72 hours and I've been taking one hydrocodone-acetaminophen 10/325 at 6 hour intervals the entire time. I'm also on 800 mg motrin at 8 hour intervals for anti-inflammatory, and 81 mg asprin at 12 hour intervals that's primarily to prevent blood clots.

5 of 6 previous surgeries (shoulder, both knees, 2 colorectal, and deviated Septum) had hydrocodone-acetaminophen post-op and I've always been completely off them in 48 to 96 hours (i.e. switch to straight Tylenol). I also remember starting at 4 hour intervals and then extending to 6 hour intervals.

I'm thinking of cutting a hydrocodone-acetaminophen pill in half and trying that at next dose. Probably take with 1/2 a Tylenol so I don't reduce the acetaminophen dosage.

Glad to hear you're on the mend

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I normally live alone. With one leg out of commission, doing my own cooking, errand running and having to climb in and out of a tub to shower, this was nearly impossible and, in case of the shower, hazardous, so for about 4-5 months, until I could get into a walking boot, I stayed at my brother's house.

Knee scooter has been a God send for self-sufficiency. It's got a little basket on it and I can move stuff from fridge to microwave to couch. I also planned ahead and made 4 meals of my favorite hearty soup. Cooking bacon and eggs this morning was my biggest kitchen accomplishment.

Took my first shower last night and that took a lot of planning as my right leg is absolutely no weight bearing and the brace is integrated with a 14 day bandage that has to stay dry. My neighbor was kind enough to go to CVS to buy a cast bag with dual seals to cover from the knee down. I have a walk-in shower with a built-in seat, but it's 2" recessed. I ended up using my crutches and nonslip shoe on good foot. I had the knee scooter right outside the shower.