Ruptured Achilles Tendon

Ouch! Sorry to hear the news mate.

Mine partially ruptured or strained or something a few years ago, playing touch footy. Nothing as severe as yours though. That injury sounds insane. Took about 8 months before I was right. All physio and acupuncture for me, no surgery. Got back close to 100% .

I'm over a year into a patellar tendon injury now. Copped a blow on it. I haven't managed this one at all well so I'm still a bit ginger on it. Can surf again, took about a year, but not fully confident in it yet.

Look after it mate. Do the rehab as best you can. hope it goes well for you. Tendon injuries do really suck, especially something as painful as yours.

I am on my feet all day and by evening they are hurting also I am suffering from Achilles Tendon Pain. I am still breaking them in but foot pain is decreasing. My feet feel snug and supported. The arch support is very noticeable and feels good. Will be trying sandals also. orthofeet sneakers felt great as soon as i put them on. I am walking several miles a day and even started running some.

Get a PRP injection.....speeds up recovery and works really well.

Achilles are a big topic JonnyB...there's a reason for the saying someone's weakness is there Achilles heel.
First and foremost - listen to your specialists but make sure they're good at what they do and are experienced in the type of injury you sustained.
A tendon is a difficult and slow repair as its a connective tissue from muscle (which has elasticity) to bone (which is solid). Muscles and bones heal where ligaments and tendons only repair - through treatment in minor cases and surgery in more extreme cases.
To add to that, the Achilles is perhaps the "worst" tendon for two reasons - the muscle connection to the calf joins a muscle which when exercised and strengthened creates width not so much length, and secondly the bone connection absorbs the entire weight of the body relentlessly through our most common mobility exercise - walking.
Talk to your specialist about how you injured the tendon. Did it just "go"? Or was it from an external impact or irregular surface? This can indicate if there was an existing weakness its its structure due to incorrect posture, leg length, heel strike etc or a muscular imbalance from strengthening routines which were unbalanced.
Either way a visit to a specialist who can explain to you the nature of how you walk and place your foot on the ground and its relation to how that impact transfers through your entire lower body up to your hips. Just this information will help you.
Anyway that's just scratching the surface - take it slow, do it right and educate yourself as much as possible along the way.

Yo Jonny, Bad luck mate. That one's a bitch, never had one myself but have two mates who have. One was running out to pumping waves when it snapped, thought he'd been shot in the leg. Anyways, chin up buddy, it's a year. Both those guys are back in the water no worries, they heal up pretty good in the end.

Been there and its a massive pain. A couple of tips -
Find a good good podiatrist and get them to assess your gait etc. and can help you with orthotics and shoe choice.
Avoid thongs.
Be careful walking on uneven surfaces especially sand during recovery.
Look into acupuncture as a complimentary treatment. It helped me greatly and I was pretty much fully recovered 2 months ahead of plan.
Remember, it's a long slow recovery so take it easy.

I've helped people fix ruptured and damaged achilles tendons.

I'll talk to you just like I would to them. Firstly, its entirely possible, and best, if you get your achilles much stronger and more flexible than it was pre injury. Likewise your overall fitness.

Think about the football thing. The very best footballers train way harder, and at a level most people have no comprehension at all of, just to play once a week. And despite their elite fitness, and skill levels, serious injury is common. Next to no training and skill, and playing once a week is a good way to get injured. Even when in common scenarios like schmucks getting lured and enticed into playing low grade sport, and attending low grade training sessions, injuries are more than common. There are much better ways of getting fit, healthy and not injured.

Again, say that injury happened to the elite footballer, or athlete. The prognosis is reasonably similar to what you have been given. The major, glaring difference is that the footballer/athlete is much, much fitter, and disciplined to start with (blood supply), and has 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of the very best therapy and rehab thrown at them. And all the time necessary, as well as very powerful and real motivation to do all that is required of them. In an absolutely ludicrous brainwave, the general public expect much better, faster results whilst starting at a much lower level, much lower than they are willing to realize, and in comparison doing literally fuck all, as they did post injury. As much as that irks them. Our culture is in injury epidemic mode, and is learning the hard way that ever worsening ridiculously low levels of strength and fitness comes at a price.

So, due to cultural restrictions as well (work force) patience is necessary. Hints are obvious, you have already raised the obvious. Blood flow equals healing. How to increase blood flow, whilst joint movement is drastically restricted. How to increase blood flow without causing more injury. Entirely possible, and desirable.

Still, its not my ideal to give advice like this without having you in front of me. Because it is beyond belief how things can be 'comprehended', 'replicated' and basically, ludicrously butchered. Think of going to see a top class jeweler, to get a custom gold and diamond piece made. The jeweler explains the procedure, even giving detailed demos, then leaves you to it. The best scenario would be that the jeweler can retrieve the gold and diamond from the botched mess. Or likewise a heart surgeon demoing and explaining in intricate detail a heart transplant. He will leave you with it, and quickly book the funeral. Thats just reality.

You need to use pain as your guide. Or more tearing and scarring will occur. While joint movement is so restricted, you need to learn how to use isometrics to increase blood flow, and maintain and build muscle and all important nervous system. Muscle means more blood flow. Nervous system means confidence, skill and control. Atrophy, which describes most people in this 'advanced' age and culture anyway, is disastrous. As movement becomes possible, you have to think about and understand what has happened to 'heal' your tendon. What it really means, in the long run also, to have a clump of scarred, misaligned fibres, in an ideally flexible, strong cord. And how to remedy that. Which is entirely possible. So then you need to understand what eccentric training really means, in particular regarding creating muscle and tendon fibre changes. Here's a good explanation.

https://runnersconnect.net/achilles-tendonitis-and-insertional-achilles-...

Then you need to become much fitter and stronger and healthier than pre injury. But, you need to want to first of all. That means much change. All entirely possible. I've seen it happen. On many occasions. Only fools neglect utilizing isometric and eccentric training in their fitness 'programs'. I've also helped numerous people throw away their orthopedic inserts etc, and revel on unstable surfaces. Its entirely possible. Good luck.

New Age juju

Old aged advanced stage swillnuttin' 101... in a nutshell.

Only fools neglect utilizing isometric and eccentric training in their fitness 'programs'.

What do you mean by this CK. Serious question.

I'll get there free. Its not new. Isometrics have been around a while. Still are, if you know where to look. What questions to ask. They got done up in the sales pitch. Eccentrics... Arthur Jones. Over 40 odd years ago. Had some awesome contact with him way back then. Until then, here's a bit. The kids are under attack you see. Red neck snipers, dressed up like jimbob.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308338367_Chronic_Adaptations_t...

http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1575/T...

I've got 45 or so years of ongoing, to this day, research though. In an industry that churns through them like butter.

Will plantar fasciitis heal by itself? I used to have pain when stepping on the ground with my heel, similar to a bruise. The pain is very short, but every step I take is painful and it will heal after a few days.

Does ankle compression sleeve brace good help for that?
https://www.gearhunder.com/ankle-compression-sleeve-brace/

Have ruptured both achilles, albeit 25 years apart. First one conservatively managed with nil residual effects.
Second time (more recently) required surgical intervention due to severity of the rupture. Physiotherapy absolutely essential to my recovery, but have ended up with plantar fasciitis. As I am on my feet all day at work have to wear orthotics, which ameliorate the pain associated with PF. In fact all my shoes are orthotics and can only go bare foot on the beach!
As an aside, be mindful of the antibiotic Ciprofloxicin, as one of the uncommon and in my case unfortunate side effects is tendon damage.

kkiingston wrote:

Will plantar fasciitis heal by itself? I used to have pain when stepping on the ground with my heel, similar to a bruise. The pain is very short, but every step I take is painful and it will heal after a few days.

I developed plantar fascitis after too much walking, too fast in cheap runners that had poor cushioning.

I bought some quality runners with lots of cushioning and slowed my walking pace from super fast to fairly fast. That fixed it in my case.

Occasionally I put my old runners on briefly and they feel so cheap and harsh to walk in.

kkiingston wrote:

Will plantar fasciitis heal by itself? I used to have pain when stepping on the ground with my heel, similar to a bruise. The pain is very short, but every step I take is painful and it will heal after a few days.

I got it from lots of running.
It took about 18 months to fully clear up with regular visits to the podiatrist and heel inserts in my shoes. Some mornings when I first got out of bed I couldn’t put any weight on my foot whatsoever. Long process to get it right again

I had plantar F also for about 6 months. Its a pain in the neck as every morning when you first stand up when you put your foot down you make hundreds of micro tears in the arch of your foot. Gets better as the day wears on but knowing its gunna happen again next morning is a drag.
Same as goofy I saw a podiatrist and got fitted with shoe inserts and haven't had it for about 8 years now.

the other cure for PF is to get wraps for your foot - amazon sells them pretty cheap. works amazingly well and easier than inserts and a lot cheaper