It’s a couple of days after your injury and you are gradually coming to terms with what just occurred – You tore your Achilles tendon and you’ve responsibly gotten yourself to a doctor (Read steps to take after an Achilles tear). They’ve put your injured foot in a temporary splint with the foot in a Plantar Flexion position (toes pointing downwards). Now it is time to transition to the next phase of recovery.
There are two approaches to this recovery – the surgical route and the non-surgical route. I took the non-surgical route. Both approaches apparently have similar results but the non-surgical route requires more patience because it takes longer to start bearing weight on the leg compared to surgical recovery.
These are the following steps for non-surgical Achilles-tear recovery:
- Remove the temporary splint around the injured foot.
- Foot is placed in a cast in a planar flexion position (toes pointing downwards), similar to how your leg was in the splint.
- Now you just have to patiently wait while your Achilles heals in the cast. You can be in a cast from 3 – 5 weeks, depending on the severity of your injury. The doctors gave me a visual description of the healing process: imagine that the Achilles tendon, when in the planar flexion position, is like the interlacing of the fingers of the left hand with fingers of the right hand. If the injured tendon remains in this position, scar tissue grows around it to make it heal and get stronger. If taken out of this position before healing, the scar tissue is not able to grow around the tear and the injury does not heal properly and definitely isn’t strengthened.
- An important thing to note is that you want to keep your cast dry during the weeks that you have it on. That means you will have to keep it away from water while bathing. To do this, you can buy a cast cover to wear around the cast, or you can tie a clean trash bag over the cast to protect it from water.
- The 3-5 weeks in the cast can be very tough because you cannot put weight on the injured leg and you have to walk around with crutches. The crutches are difficult to use but after a week or two, you will get more comfortable with the crutches.
- Try to rest the leg as much as possible, by keeping it elevated when seated or while laying down.
- Once the 3-5 weeks in the cast are completed, your cast will be removed and the doctor will transition you into a walking boot.
- This is a point of relief. Excitement all around!!! You have finally been liberated from your cast and can now bear weight on your leg in a walking boot. Check out the swag in my walk (limp).
- There will be wedges placed under your heel in your walking boot to keep your foot pointing downwards while in the boot.
- The doctor will gradually reduce the height of the wedges in your walking boot over a 3-4 week period to gradually straighten your foot to a 90-degree angle. You will feel a stretch on your Achilles during this process.
- After a week in the walking boot, you will begin physical therapy to stretch your Achilles and strengthen your calf muscles.
- After approximately 3 weeks, you should be out of your walking boot – this is when you transition into full physical therapy.
My next and final post on my recovery from my Achilles tear will discuss my physical therapy and the rehab process to strengthen my leg. All this is to get me back to my Jordan days.
Again, as a disclaimer, I am not a medical doctor. My post is based mainly on my experience from suffering from, being properly diagnosed by a doctor, and recovering from an Achilles tendon tear. You would need to consult a medical doctor, particularly a podiatrist, for accurate diagnosis and treatment.
