Achilles rupture

[John Bono]

Hi Coach,

I partially detached my Achilles tendon about two months ago and had surgery on 7/19 to reattach the tendon and remove the tendonosis and the heel spur. I'm just starting to abandon crutches and should be full weight bearing in the boot in a week, at which point I'll be doing heavier pt.(Right now I'm only allowed to do light stretching )

Frankly I'm going kinda nuts from being forced to sit on my ass.

Since I'm already at the point where I can start putting weight on the leg, what lifts can I do that won't stress the Achilles much? More specifically, can I start pressing safely? Thanks.

Btw, here are my stats(pre-op)

45yo
BW 287
Ht 5'9"
Squat 315
Bench 195
Dl 315
Press 130

Again, thanks for any help.

John

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Mark Rippetoe]

Funny you should mention this, but I ruptured mine about two weeks ago. Surgery was last Wednesday, I trained Friday, Monday, and yesterday. Did seated chins, seated presses, bench, and dips. Maybe you should use this as an excuse to drop some bodyfat.

[John Bono]

Funny you should mention this, but I ruptured mine about two weeks ago. Surgery was last Wednesday, I trained Friday, Monday, and yesterday. Did seated chins, seated presses, bench, and dips. Maybe you should use this as an excuse to drop some bodyfat.

You had your surgery a lot quicker than mine. I had to wait a month. I assume you are still in the cast? BTW, what caused the rupture? Was it at the tendon or at the insertion into the heelbone? Did they have to use a collagen jacket and/or a transfer of the FHL tendon from the big toe? I've discovered I can't curl my big toe to grasp things. Not much loss, but a bit of a shock when I first tried to do it.

I had done seated lifts in the month leading up to surgery, but I've never heard of a seated chin. How does that work? Youtube is kind of sparse in that dept. I'm also going to ignore my doc's orders not to exercise. I'm going nuts sitting around.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why did you wait a month, you fool? If the loose ends of the tendon start to reabsorb, the sutured repair has a much worse chance of holding in the degraded tissue. Maybe that what made these extraordinary transplant measures necessary.

My rupture was mid-tendon with some medial/distal gastroc involvement. I would have had the surgery done quicker, but we had to work in Ontario the day after the injury. I ruptured it while jumping away from a snake at the bottom of my rather rural driveway. Hiked back up the hill while calculating the next week's actions.

If they took a tendon graft from your big toe and the toe doesn't regain function, your gait will be altered even though the heel repair worked. Be very careful to let it heal, since your repair is not as good as mine.

For seated chins, I just sit on a bench with my legs/feet forward and pull myself up into a bar set in the power rack.

[hamburgerfan]

Was the snake venomous?

[John Bono]

Why did you wait a month, you fool? If the loose ends of the tendon start to reabsorb, the sutured repair has a much worse chance of holding in the degraded tissue. Maybe that what made these extraordinary transplant measures necessary.

In my defense, my leg passed the Thompson's test(squeeze the calf to check for heel movement). The ER doc, looking at an Xray, didn't think it was ruptured at all. It was only looking at when the ortho ordered an MRI that they spotted it.



According to him, I could simply have gone with keeping the foot booted for 6 weeks instead of surgery. I decided to go the surgical route, since I'd have a pretty strong likelihood of rerupture if I avoided surgery, and then I'd be back in the same boat. I scheduled the first date I could get. I think also the doc wanted to make certain that he would have no problems on the table due to my leukemia, so he ordered a full battery of tests. Docs wig out when they hear that, even though I've had normal blood counts for years. As far as the the movement of the big toe, I can raise and lower it no problem, and I can push off the toe. However, I can't "clench" it. If anything, though, because of the tendonosis I'd been dealing with for a while, I think my gait will probably be improved significantly.

I ruptured it while jumping away from a snake at the bottom of my rather rural driveway. Hiked back up the hill while calculating the next week's actions.

I decided to relive my HS days and throw a discus, then I did a 200 yard hobble of shame back to my car, after I heard the pop. Broke 100 ft on that last through, though, and didn't foul. Not bad for someone who hasn't touched a discus since the first Reagan administration.

Oh, and I made certain to pick up the discus before I left. Priorities, you know.

[TheMo]

You had your surgery a lot quicker than mine. I had to wait a month. I assume you are still in the cast? BTW, what caused the rupture? Was it at the tendon or at the insertion into the heelbone? Did they have to use a collagen jacket and/or a transfer of the FHL tendon from the big toe? I've discovered I can't curl my big toe to grasp things. Not much loss, but a bit of a shock when I first tried to do it.

I had done seated lifts in the month leading up to surgery, but I've never heard of a seated chin. How does that work? Youtube is kind of sparse in that dept. I'm also going to ignore my doc's orders not to exercise. I'm going nuts sitting around.

Here is the thing with doctors, and this is a general note (coming from a future physician in myself):

Doctors will always go with conservative approaches. This is because for every one of you (smart guy who seems to understand some basic physiology/how to take care of himself) there are about 15 imbeciles that would immediately re-tear the tendon. In this age of malpractice docs have to cover themselves for these idiots. Therefore, with regards to your well being you can do a lot more than sit around since you know what you're doing.

[Clay84]

Funny you should mention this, but I ruptured mine about two weeks ago.

Admit it. You were doing a CrossFit box-jump/deadlift/sprint workout for time when it happened, weren't you?

[Mark Rippetoe]

You got me. A Gotcha moment, as it were.

[Steve Hill]

Admit it. You were doing a CrossFit box-jump/deadlift/sprint workout for time when it happened, weren't you?

He was, but he landed on an out-of-bounds softball, so he DNF'd.