Cast for Achilles Tendinitis

Torn Achilles n tendon under my ankle..both on my rt ft...didn't know I injured it in july 2014 the same time I tore my lateral n medial meniscus in my rt knee...Feb 2015 I slipped in my shower n hit the back of my ft n felt som major pain that mde my cry..the nxt day I slightly twisted my ft n it swelled up..2 wks later still swollen n I had difficulty walking on it..saw a dr..nothing got done til April when I went to the ER n an x-ray was taken..was put in a cast for a month..a boot n therapy for a month..therapy didn't work..put back in a boot..an MRI showed it was torn n also torn tendon..aftr being in a boot for 5 mos..surgery suggested in Oct.but nothing was scheduled..saw my dr again n pre-op was scheduled Feb 19th..no surgery scheduled..pre-op expired n still nothing...hav to use the boot still or slippers w fat heels n walking far makes it worse..frustrated...don't know why my drs office hasn't scheduled my surgery..sooo frustrated!! Tried running...no can do..dancing..as long as I don't put pressure I'm good...have to drive using my toes..long walks causes lots of pain...just adds to the frustration!!

My Achilles tendon tore while playing volleyball. I thought someone had stepped on the back of my shoe, everyone heard a pop and I was suddenly on the floor for seemingly no reason. When I tried to get up I knew something was wrong, it felt like I had nothing to hold my left foot up. Injury happened on March 16th and I had surgery on March 20th to repair it. I had a very large splint for the first two weeks, then a cast for another week, so was on crutches till April 9th and then finally a walking boot with several wedges. I weaned out of the wedges gradually and finally wore the boot for the last time on July 2nd. I did physical therapy for a while then used the therapy pool, which seemed to help a great deal. It is now September and I am back to walking on the treadmill and have been doing yard work, push mowing the lawn even while in my boot. Don't think you can't go on with normal activities, exercise will only help the strengthening process. I had my last checkup on August 12th and my doctor is very pleased with my progress, although he said no more volleyball; I guess 59 maybe pushing it. I don't wish this on anyone, but you can regain normal activity with proper care.

Tried ALL therapy, recovering now from surgery.

For chronic achilles tendonitis...

Things I tried that didn't work:
? eccentric heel drops
? rest
? ice
? heat
? sports massage
? heel wedges in shoes
? cast/boot

Things I tried that did work (in order from best to worst):
? strassburg sock
? graston (got it from a PT first then did it on my own with a butterknife)
? ibuprofen (especially before bed, after graston/scraping. 800mg three times daily for a week or two)
? foam rolling (twice a day)
? consistent stretching (3-4 times a day)
? continued easy running
? eccentric heel drops (3x15 twice daily progressively adding weight to backpack. 12 weeks minimum.)

A few disclaimers... eccentric heels drops didn't work when things were really sore/inflamed, but did help as a preventative once things calmed down a bit.

My main problem was lack of flexibility, which I believe is why the strassburg sock/stretching/foam rolling etc was effective. If you're tight, you can do anything you want, but until you increase your range of motion, you'll continue to have problems.

Anything that got blood flow to the area made the quickest, most drastic difference with recovery. The tricky part is doing that without making it worse. Also, in my case, I noticed some "gentle" activities like biking actually made me more tight, which was counter-productive. And that's the main reason I continued to run instead of bike. Waiting until you can run pain-free is important.

I eventually learned what kind of "discomfort" I could and couldn't train through. It's a really tricky injury and can last for a long time (years).