Top Achilles Tips

[diziet]

My two tips:-

- Throughout my treatment and now rehab I have been taking various supplements, primarily glucosamine/chondroitin (no scientific evidence that it helps with tendon repair but (a) it won't do any harm and (b) it makes me feel as if I am protecting the other joints which are taking greater load than usual), large doses of Vitamin C and, since the cast came off, Coenzyme Q-10 to boost energy. It may be that this does no good to anyone except Holland Barrett's bank account, but it makes me feel as if I am doing everything I can for myself.

- While I was in a non weight bearing cast, my K9 orthopaedic scooter saved my sanity - http://www.walk-aid.co.uk/index.htm. Was able to do just about everything I normally did and I still use the scooter occasionally when I am particularly tired. Expensive but for me it was worth it. (I have no connection with the company!!)

[terrapin]

1. my computer chair was a big help as i used it to roll around the house.
2. keep a plastic chair in the shower to make bathing easier.
3. eat more protein than you normally would to help your body recover from the injury.
4. buy a buffpuff for scrubbing off the dead skin cells on the injured foot every now and then.
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[babyfacefinlayson]

1. Book a private physio session as soon as your plaster is off as the NHS one takes a few weeks to come through normally.

2.When you're still in your cast try and get hold of another pair of crutches to keep at the top of the stairs. This way you don't have to drag them upstairs when you're going up on your behind.

3. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION when coming in from the rain on your crutches especially if the floor is uncarpeted or laminate. Get a mat by the door and remember to wipe the rubber stoppers dry as much as poss. ( I speak from experience!)

4. Hire a wheelchair from the RED CROSS ( they loan them out for a donation ). This makes it easier to not only get out and about but also great for getting around in the house even if only to bring your dinner in on your lap. ( beats pushing it across the floor with your crutch)

5. Get someone to go to a pound shop to buy a plastic storage box. You can upturn it, put a small cushion on it and put it in the bath which enables you to put your bad leg on it whilst you soak. Also if you have a tall stool or linen bin put it next to the bath-this way you can sit and swivel carefully in taking great care to place good leg in first whilst holding on to the sides of course.

Hope that helps!!

[normofthenorth]

Great tips, folks!! I loved the one about the soft (gel) insole for when you remove the last heel lift from your boot or shoe -- SO TRUE!!

A few that I didn't see:

Get a bunch of big microfiber towels, like the ones they sell to wash cars. I use one to sit on in the shower after I've washed and rinsed, another one I sit on afterwards, on the stool in front of the sink, another one I stand on with my "bad" foot so it's dry when I put it back in the boot. . .

Wheeled chairs, and soft surfaces for kneeling, are both godsends!Some people own a wheeled cart that can help, e.g., in the kitchen

I carried a few mesh bags and shopping bags in my pockets, so I could carry little things across a room on crutches. Backpack for big things, as has been mentioned.

Heavy plastic bags -- like the ones that 4L of milk comes in in Canada -- can keep your boot or cast (and foot) dry and clean when you go outdoors. If you're using your boot outdoors -- esp. FWB -- and also bringing it into bed overnight, you don't want to be stepping into ugly stuff! But watch out for large bags, that can create a tripping hazard. (Plastic bags are also VERY slippery on snow and ice!

Wearing a (high) sock inside a boot can really help, for the skin and for the padding under the heel. But be careful when you're putting it on, because your lifelong way of doing it puts a LOT of tension on your AT! Use your hand or thumb on top of your foot to keep from dorsiflexing.

My shower routine was initially to wrap the boot in a black garbage bag (with a Spandex and Velcro strap on top), foot up on a stool (actually a plastic tub of wall-plaster "mud"). I crutched into the shower, sat, leaned the crutches outside, closed the stall door, started showering. ("Phone" shower helps.)

Later, when I could wash my "bad" leg, I crutched into the shower, sat, removed the boot and put it outside, showered, toweled mostly dry with a microfiber towel, CAREFULLY crutched out of the stall, and sat on the outside MF-cloth-covered stool (which I also kneeled on when brushing my teeth and shaving).

Still later, when FWB, I skipped the crutches, but still entered the shower with the boot on. (It helps if you're taking the FIRST shower, so the stall is dry!)

Once you're leaving the house, it helps to have a "dressing station" where you can sit and make the transition from indoor wear to outdoor wear -- I changed my shoe on my "good" foot, put a bag over my boot, put my coat and gloves on, etc. -- so I left all that stuff right where I could sit and change it all.

I've installed a few extra footstools where I sit, so I can stick my foot up in the air. I've elevated lots more than iced, but some do it the other way around.

[chocolata]

Hi guys!

I'm new here. I ruptured my AT 2 weeks ago. I had no surgery and have been house bound with my right leg/foot in a cast. I live on the 4th floor without a lift and it's not easy to go out with crutches

I've found something interesting while trying to get information about the treatment options and others on Internet. It's a new invention which allows ATR patients to walk without crutches from DAY 1. It's called 'Freedom Leg Knee Brace'. Have you heard about this?

It will be on the market from this March. I haven't used one and cannot be sure if it's good/safe/effective as has been advertized, but it looks really attractive to me. Here is links showing the product.

http://www.independenceandmobility.com/index_files/FreedomLeg.html
http://aliblog.alibaba.com/tag/forward-mobility/

Tell me what you think

[normofthenorth]

Looks great to me, chocolata, good catch! There are a bunch of versions of knee-scooters (including one new cheap and lightweight little one that straps onto your shin and looks like an artificial calf with four wheels underneath it!), but none of them would help with stairs, unlike this gizmo.

BTW, I found that having a good banister on the same side as your "bad" leg when going down stairs, can make all the difference in the world! Then you can put both crutches in your other hand and put a lot of your weight on the banister when you go down. You still have to do the two-crutch "leap of faith" technique on the way up, though -- at least I did. (8 years ago, I tore the other AT, which is OPPOSITE the banister on the way down, and I felt at serious risk every time I crutched down those stairs! This time I felt pretty safe.)

I hope you're following a fairly fast rehab protocol with your non-surgical cure, and not the old-fashioned "conservative" treatment. I'm just 10 weeks into my non-surgical cure, and I've been in 2 shoes for a week or two, and I'm just on the cusp of walking without any limp -- at least after the first couple of steps! I'm blogging at www.achillesblog.com (as normofthenorth), where there's a tonne of info. and "action".