Recovering from Achilles rupture surgery (PT question)

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hi all, I have questions about my rehab after rupturing my Achilles back in the summer.

Timeline and anecdotes:
July 13 - ruptured Achilles playing basketball
July 27 - surgery
August 21 - irrigation and debridement after healing broke down - tendon was fine, e coli was found in incision.
September 26 - began physical therapy.

I went from July 14 to October 4 without taking a step under my own power.
Began walking in a shoe without a heel wedge on October 24.

Doctor ordered PT, which I agreed with because I really had no idea how to come back from an Achilles. I’ve been at PT for 3 months now, and I think it did me a lot of good at first. Now I am questioning whether I am wasting my time.
For about the past 4 weeks, I have done the exact same routine every time I go into the office twice a week.
The routine is as follows:

  1. Stretch Achilles/calf 4 different ways using various mechanisms.
  2. 20 squats while holding a 25 pound plate.
  3. 20 dual leg heel raises on a step.
  4. 20 single leg heel raises while holding onto something for support (I cannot do a full single leg heel raise yet).
  5. 30 leg press reps at a weight that is not challenging
  6. 30 calf presses on the leg press
  7. Stand on a squishy pad and throw a medicine ball onto a trampoline and catch it on return - 20 reps
  8. Stand on bad leg only, flat ground, and do 20 more reps of throwing medicine ball
  9. 10 lunges, each leg on flat ground
  10. 10 lunges each leg onto a Bosa ball
  11. Rubber band work for my hip on the the leg that had surgery (this one seems like a massive waste of time) - 20 reps in 4 directions each
  12. 5 minutes elliptical Conversely, I also mix in 1-2 lower body (very conservative) barbell workouts a week in my home gym while mixing in the PT elements that I feel are worthwhile (heel raises and lunges). My most recent barbell workout was:
  13. Low bar squat 3 sets of 7 at 135 lbs.
  14. Deadlift 3 sets of 5 at 135 pounds.
  15. Flat ground lunges 1 set of 10 for each leg. Half the reps I had a 15 lbs dumbbell in each hand.
  16. Barbell row sets of 5, 5, and 8 at 135 pounds.
  17. Heel raises while holding a 15 pound dumbbell in each hand (10 in neutral foot position, 10 pointed inward, 10 pointed outward).
  18. Then go for a walk or elliptical. Personally, I think I am wasting time and money at this point. I am just extremely nervous because I have not started doing any running or jumping yet, and I, quite honestly, am scared to do that on my own.

My questions are: Is the PT routine I’ve been following doing anything to progress my Achilles overall strength and ankle mobility at this point? Would I be better off just lifting weights and mixing in some of the worthwhile movements from PT?

Thank you,

Alex

2

Hi,

Unfortunately we can’t say the exact amount of adaptation you are generating by following this routine at this point. It is doing more than nothing, but probably less than you could achieve with an alternative approach to your rehab programming. However, detailed/specific discussions of individual post-operative scenarios are unfortunately outside the scope of the forum, and are best addressed via professional consultation. Our rehab team would be a great option for this, as they have lots of experience guiding folks through this kind of rehab process.