Achilles Rupture [No Surgery] - Early Rehab and Weight Bearing, iWalk 2.0 review (Week 3 Recovery)

Achilles Tendon Rupture Week 3 non-operative (non-surgical) recovery. My progression. What I’ve used. What I’m doing.
Achiles Rupture Tuesday 12/10 1045pm. ER places me in soft cast. Thursday saw orthopedic surgeon. Soft cast off, In boot with 1cm wedge. Walked without crutch (not much) through Friday, then decided to stop weight bearing. Inserted wedges (hard "styrofoam" plastic) 5.5cm lift in boot Sunday 12/15. Saw Podiatric Surgeon Tuesday 12/17 (who I am continuing with). Started partial weight bearing and ROM exercises 12/20. 12/22 back to work. 12/28 4.5cm wedge and down to one crutch. Progressive increase to 75% weight bearing.

[@Humblebeginnings23]

It’s crazy how similar our story aligned lol started out with a soft cast too and used the boot too on the third day wi the minimal lift, and walked everywhere. Thank you for your insights!

[@user-zn7gx6uj7s]

Thank you for posting these videos. They have been really helpful on my journey. I’m on week three right now and have had a very similar experience to you and some small mistakes for sure. I was exhausted going back to work right after the injury and sleeping 10 hours or more a night. Maybe not as feasible for people with kids. You are totally right about the “you can feel it healing.” The biking is a great suggestion and will be trying it this week. Thanks again. Looking forward to watching the rest of your vids as I progress.

[@topotone]

Thanks. That last little bit was so helpful. Where you said the tendon was gone and there was a hole as big as your thumb. That’s exactly where mine was yesterday when it happened. Of course, I’m in the half cast and don’t know what it looks like right now, but this is very hopeful for me. I see an ortho next week, and I’m hoping he will be supportive of the non-surgical approach. Did the ortho give you the boot? Or was that from someone else? Did the ortho not want to do the non-surgical?

[@antonsehl]

Great video! I'm getting the boot off on tuesday (week 8) butI've been walking around with normal shoes at home today and felt great. When you say 2 cm gap do you mean when you had your toes pointing down or in neutral position?

[@raeffm]

Sounds like you had a partial tear of Achilles only.

[@davidv1848]

Marc - my name is David V. We seem to share a similar story (my ATR occurred on 12-29-19 as a result of playing football) - after much deliberation & research (UWO study, Doctor Waddle research, BMI meta analysis, etc.) I decided to take the non-operative route (with accelerated functional rehab) toward recovery (note: I visited 3 different ortho surgeons - each pushed me toward surgery). I live in Dallas TX, my tendon gap (from MRI on day 3) is 2.5cm; injury is on my left leg, late 40’s male, very active (cycling, gym, running, skiing, etc.). Was wondering if you’d be interested in connecting (email, text, phone, etc.) to compare notes, rehab strategy, progress, etc. through this long recovery process. If not, no worries - if interested let me know by replying to this message & we can figure out how to connect. Thanks ~ David.

[@davidv1848]

Thanks Marc. I’ll join the FB group. Good luck on your recovery going forward.

[@harlisonalves8094]

Can I join you guys on face book group ? I am going through the same situation now . 😔

[@Takk6]

@@davidv1848 little late to this but i would like to join as well?

[@bikepacker9850]

Gee you sure got the "Best year ever" thing wrong.