ChilledFaith
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So I wanted to write this for 2 reasons, first to help anybody in my same situation and 2nd, to get any advice or ideas to improve my recovery. About 4 weeks ago I ruptured my achilles. It was a full tear of the tendon. For a little background, I am a D1 pole vaulter and it happened while running down the runway. I’ve never had achilles issues before, so it was a bit out of nowhere. Now onto the fun stuff!
What am I currently doing? As stated, 4 weeks ago I ruptured it, with surgery happening 4 days after the rupture. So I'm about 3 weeks out from surgery. After surgery, I was off the pain pills in about 3 days. Not a huge fan of pain pills so I got off as soon as possible, still pretty painful at that point but after a week it really wasn’t too bad. So, after I got off the pain pills I started my supplement regime for healing (hopefully). I’ve done a decent amount of research, but I am probably one of the least qualified people on this forum to speak on supplements (or so it seems). What I am currently taking: High-quality turmeric and curcumin, omega fish oils, a good multivitamin, hydrolyzed collagen, beet root extract (increasing NO has been shown to be beneficial in healing), glucosamine HCL (with MSM), ginseng and ashwagandha (not healing related so much as part of my normal routine), a calcium, magnesium, and zinc supplement, instantized L-leucine, creatine, and a vitamin B complex. As you can see, I’m taking a fair bit. Many of these have research backing them with helping healing (surgical or otherwise) or preserving muscle to prevent atrophy. I'm not going to go into my rehab much, or anything of that nature since it’s easily available online.
In terms of how it’s going so far, the scar looks really good and seems to have healed up nicely. I can post before and after pictures if anybody is curious. I'm getting range of motion back and able to stretch to 90 degrees (Doc won’t allow past that.) Rehab will be starting next week. I’ve lost what seems to be a fair amount of muscle in my injured leg. I don’t have a good way to test how much I’ve lost besides the measurements I've taken of my calf before surgery and today. Keep in mind the current measurement will be smaller than expected since the muscle hasn’t been used, more than atrophy, this also means there isn’t as much blood in the muscle, or no “pump” even as one would get from walking. The measurement before surgery was also after 2 days of not walking, so there may be some correlation between the two, but two days vs 4 weeks of not walking is a big difference in my mind.
Pre-surgery calf measurement (no flex or pump): 14.25in
Current calf measurement (3/23/2021): 13.5in
An interesting thing to note is that since I'm constantly on one leg, my other calf has grown to just above 14.5 in.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be updating this unless there is interest, but as stated, feel free to offer any advice or questions!
What am I currently doing? As stated, 4 weeks ago I ruptured it, with surgery happening 4 days after the rupture. So I'm about 3 weeks out from surgery. After surgery, I was off the pain pills in about 3 days. Not a huge fan of pain pills so I got off as soon as possible, still pretty painful at that point but after a week it really wasn’t too bad. So, after I got off the pain pills I started my supplement regime for healing (hopefully). I’ve done a decent amount of research, but I am probably one of the least qualified people on this forum to speak on supplements (or so it seems). What I am currently taking: High-quality turmeric and curcumin, omega fish oils, a good multivitamin, hydrolyzed collagen, beet root extract (increasing NO has been shown to be beneficial in healing), glucosamine HCL (with MSM), ginseng and ashwagandha (not healing related so much as part of my normal routine), a calcium, magnesium, and zinc supplement, instantized L-leucine, creatine, and a vitamin B complex. As you can see, I’m taking a fair bit. Many of these have research backing them with helping healing (surgical or otherwise) or preserving muscle to prevent atrophy. I'm not going to go into my rehab much, or anything of that nature since it’s easily available online.
In terms of how it’s going so far, the scar looks really good and seems to have healed up nicely. I can post before and after pictures if anybody is curious. I'm getting range of motion back and able to stretch to 90 degrees (Doc won’t allow past that.) Rehab will be starting next week. I’ve lost what seems to be a fair amount of muscle in my injured leg. I don’t have a good way to test how much I’ve lost besides the measurements I've taken of my calf before surgery and today. Keep in mind the current measurement will be smaller than expected since the muscle hasn’t been used, more than atrophy, this also means there isn’t as much blood in the muscle, or no “pump” even as one would get from walking. The measurement before surgery was also after 2 days of not walking, so there may be some correlation between the two, but two days vs 4 weeks of not walking is a big difference in my mind.
Pre-surgery calf measurement (no flex or pump): 14.25in
Current calf measurement (3/23/2021): 13.5in
An interesting thing to note is that since I'm constantly on one leg, my other calf has grown to just above 14.5 in.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be updating this unless there is interest, but as stated, feel free to offer any advice or questions!
