cycling after achillies surgery

amitchell36

Hi folks,

I asked my Dr but he never really answered the question. How long should I wait after surgery before I get back on the bike?

I had surgery 2 weeks ago to fix chronic tendonitis, a lot of scar tissue was removed and a cut made in the tendon length ways to promote healing. Surgery was called decompression of the achillies tendon.

I'm not fit yet as still can't walk properly but how long would you wait. Dr just said wait and see, helpful.

Thanks

webboo

Have you not been referred for physio. I'm 7 weeks in from having my Achilles repaired following rupturing it, I'm still in an Aircast and seeing the consultant next week. I'm hoping the cast will be off and physio will start, however I reckon I could use the Turbo even now. But as age is against me I am being cautious as I don't want to do something that adds another 6 months to my recovery.
Have you tried googling recovery from Achilles surgery I'm sure there will be some surgeons website with a recovery plan.

marcg868

I did mine may 2014 had it repaired June was back on the bike the beginning of November. Spent 8 weeks on a cast. 4 more in a boot. Then physio. Mine was where the achillies inserts into the foot.
I wouldn't rush it. Ask your physio when you get to that stage.
I must say though the consultant did an excellent job as I have no pain what so ever.
Mine started off as tendinitis then it ruptured.

marcg868

http://www.stoneclinic.com/achilles-ten ... b-protocol

amitchell36

Thanks guys,

I havnt been refered to a physio. I didn't have a cast at all, just a boot for a week and a half.

I saw the consultant the other day and he said too get rid of the boot and start walking. I can walk but as the incision is still healing its uncomfortable.

The tendon wasn't ruptured but I was told it was sticking inside the tendon sheath causing inflammation. This has been sorted so hopefully it won't reoccur.

I will give the incision time to heal then maybe give the hospital a call for some further advise re exercise in general.

Thanks

marcg868

Please don't rush the process. In some ways a rupture is quicker to recover from.
To this day I still get twinges from scar tissue. Good luck but personally don't expect to get loads of riding done.

webboo

marcg868 wrote:

http://www.stoneclinic.com/achilles-tendon-repair-rehab-protocol

I love this rehab protocol
8 to 12 weeks OK to wear shoes with a heel I.e. Cowboy boots. Just shown it to the missus and got a nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

marcg868

Haha its American. But some of its what I got told to do.

fossyant

Bit early in my opinion. If you are struggling to walk, don't ride just yet. You need the sheath to heal, or you'll be back to square 1.

amitchell36

Thanks for all the advise.

I will hang off for the time being and ask my consultant again next time I see him. That's in May.

Its going to be a long wait!

keithc440

Had a decompression of my achilles years ago. I recommend seeing a good physio for advise during the rehabilitation. Just as important as the operation in my opinion. Mine needed some cross friction treatment to help it along. It's important to regain the range of motion. You can't rush it but you don't want to be too wimpy either. May is too late to wait for advise. Pay for a physio. Nhs won't give you enough attention in my opinion.

gratziani

I would see a physio soon as you can , I done mine in December and was riding on the road in April a couple of years ago, and that was with turbo for most of March.

But the riding was all easy gears and no straining at all , it took a while to build the tendon and calf back up again.

had three weeks in a cast and ten weeks in the boot with inserts being taken out every two weeks.

marcg868

I'd also bin the spd sl pedals for a while when your back riding. Use flats for a few months and flex your Achilles up and down during a ride.

amboman

any advise for someone with chronic Achilles tendonosis that they have refused to operate on? what sort of trainers would be recommended for running or should I buy trainers and get inserts. as Surgery looks out of the question I want to start training. any advice would be greatly received.

amitchell36

It will just get worse. I suggest you go and see another Dr or keep going back and insisting you are referred to see an orthopedic specialist.

Try going to a good sports shop, they can analise your running and foot strike and get shoes that suit your running style, be prepared to pay decent money for good trainers.

webboo

marcg868 wrote:

I'd also bin the spd sl pedals for a while when your back riding. Use flats for a few months and flex your Achilles up and down during a ride.

According to an article in Cycling plus on Achilles' tendon issues flat pedals is one of the causes of said issues.

dennisn

I'd listen to your Doctor. Who else knows more about your condition than him. You can visit hundreds of "experts" and I'm sure one of them will tell you what you want to hear. No Doctor or therapist is going to say "Ok, you've just had surgery, now get out there and hammer down." There's a reason most of them don't tell you that. Take it slow and easy. You're not a pro athlete who makes his living riding and if you push it to hard you may not even be a rider anymore.

gratziani

from a personal point of view having ruptured my Achilles ,

My Physio said as long as you cycle taking it easy and don't push yourself it was one of the best exercises for building the Achilles back up again. Also doing lifts on the stairs with both feet was another until you could start doing it on the bad leg.

handful

Just thought I'd add my experience as I'm currently recovering from complete ATR as well. I did mine on 16th December (3 months yesterday!)and was advised against surgery due to the close proximity of the calf muscle to where it snapped. The tendon changes from being very bony hard to soft muscle fibres which are not good to stitch apparently.

I had a week in a half cast before going into a "boot" with wedges which were removed one by one every fortnight and I was gradually able to put more weight to the point that from around week 8-10 I was moving around at home without the boot on at all. I saw the consultant and was given the ok to leave the boot off at week 10 and I booked in for private physio straight away. He gave me the ok to start turbo riding for short spells at low resistance and see if there was any reaction (which there wasn't) I have ony done 20 minutes at a time so far and had my first ride out last weekend, only did 6 miles because I'm very conscious of the risk of re-rupture. It was brilliant to get out again though!

The physio is very happy with the range of movement that I have at such a relatively early stage and I think I helped that by continually moving my foot and ankle wherever and whenever I could within the range of movement that I had available at those times.

My advice would be, get a decent physio and do exactly what he/she says, no more and no less and you will be fine.

Good luck!

webboo

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

dennisn

Webboo wrote:

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

Please don't "sneak in" workouts. Do what your Doctor / Physio tells you. If you really like riding and want to keep at it as a lifestyle then sneaking in workouts may result in ripping it apart all over again. How does that sound to ya? If you haven't learned how to properly heal the first time then I'm pretty sure that with your attitude of sneaking in things, you'll be offered a second and possibly a third time to learn that lesson.

webboo

dennisn wrote:

Webboo wrote:

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

Please don't "sneak in" workouts. Do what your Doctor / Physio tells you. If you really like riding and want to keep at it as a lifestyle then sneaking in workouts may result in ripping it apart all over again. How does that sound to ya? If you haven't learned how to properly heal the first time then I'm pretty sure that with your attitude of sneaking in things, you'll be offered a second and possibly a third time to learn that lesson.

I'm not sure what you mean about not learning to heal the first time.
I may have used the wrong word in sneaked, however in my defence the warm up before starting my physiotherapy exercise regime is using the static bike.

okgo

Basically, do as you are told, you don't know better, and it will potentially make things very bad if you try and accelerate a process that you cannot control

I've had achilles problems, so I know how annoying it can be, but as said, some patience now will pay dividends in the future.

webboo

okgo wrote:

Basically, do as you are told, you don't know better, and it will potentially make things very bad if you try and accelerate a process that you cannot control

I've had achilles problems, so I know how annoying it can be, but as said, some patience now will pay dividends in the future.

Shit the wife's now posting on here.

dennisn

Webboo wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Webboo wrote:

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

Please don't "sneak in" workouts. Do what your Doctor / Physio tells you. If you really like riding and want to keep at it as a lifestyle then sneaking in workouts may result in ripping it apart all over again. How does that sound to ya? If you haven't learned how to properly heal the first time then I'm pretty sure that with your attitude of sneaking in things, you'll be offered a second and possibly a third time to learn that lesson.

I'm not sure what you mean about not learning to heal the first time.
I may have used the wrong word in sneaked, however in my defence the warm up before starting my physiotherapy exercise regime is using the static bike.

I meant that if you ignore good advice about healing the first time you'll most likely have the opportunity to try and heal again for a second time.

amitchell36

My Dr told me other day it would be OK for light exercise so I asked about cycling and he said that would be fine.

I went out today for a short and gentle ride, 8 miles with a few hills.

Absolutly fine, no pain. Now actually feels a bit better that I have had it moving.

webboo

Webboo wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Webboo wrote:

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

Please don't "sneak in" workouts. Do what your Doctor / Physio tells you. If you really like riding and want to keep at it as a lifestyle then sneaking in workouts may result in ripping it apart all over again. How does that sound to ya? If you haven't learned how to properly heal the first time then I'm pretty sure that with your attitude of sneaking in things, you'll be offered a second and possibly a third time to learn that lesson.

I'm not sure what you mean about not learning to heal the first time.
I may have used the wrong word in sneaked, however in my defence the warm up before starting my physiotherapy exercise regime is using the static bike.

On checking with my physio I am fine to use the turbo.

dennisn

Webboo wrote:

Webboo wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Webboo wrote:

I'm now 8 weeks post op, boot came off last week and I had my first physio session today. The physio was impressed with my range of movement before I have started rehab. I don't seem to have lost much muscle unless both legs have shrunk.
I have sneaked in a couple of sessions on the turbo with very little resistance. Not too chuffed with my heart rate going up to 165 though just by rotating my legs

Please don't "sneak in" workouts. Do what your Doctor / Physio tells you. If you really like riding and want to keep at it as a lifestyle then sneaking in workouts may result in ripping it apart all over again. How does that sound to ya? If you haven't learned how to properly heal the first time then I'm pretty sure that with your attitude of sneaking in things, you'll be offered a second and possibly a third time to learn that lesson.

I'm not sure what you mean about not learning to heal the first time.
I may have used the wrong word in sneaked, however in my defence the warm up before starting my physiotherapy exercise regime is using the static bike.

On checking with my physio I am fine to use the turbo.

What does that mean? Did he say you were fine to get on the turbo and hammer down for hours? Or did he say take it very easy? I'm voting that he said something like the latter. Hopefully you'll be able to restrain yourself.

webboo

Yes he said take it up to a pain threshold of 9 out of 10.

dennisn

Webboo wrote:

Yes he said take it up to a pain threshold of 9 out of 10.

Heh heh. Have at it. See if you can record that popping sound when it goes again.

webboo

I'm now allowed to use the cross trainer now as well as the turbo. 5 minutes and my quads were on fire. However as there is no discomfort around my Achilles, I can increase it up to 20 minutes if I like.
Just when I thought life couldn't get any better.