Completely Ruptured Achilles!!

Couldn't find any posts on this. So in Florida visiting family. Went to the beach was playing around in the water and WHAM!!!!!!!!! THought I got hit with a piece of wood or something in the water, but realized it was my achilles. Went to the hospital and had an MRI done and it is completely torn. Have to see an Ortho on Wednesday the day after I get home. (Flying home with 2 little kids should be fun!!)
Anyway...
Has anyone experienced this before? What was recovery like? I know I will miss ice this winter and tele as well!!!! HOw long did it take to recover? Anyone know of any supplements/herbs ect. That could potentially speed healing? When I had my knee surgeries I took a Chinese mixture that really helped, but can't find it out here.
This is going to drive me NUTS as I can't sit still for very long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any personal experience, but soccer star
David Beckham tore his in April of this year, and was playing
full games by September. So getting it repaired is possible,
but I suspect Beckham had some really really good therapists
to get him going as quickly as he did.
I wish you the best on getting it repaired.

Close friend tore his last year at the bottom of a 2500' deep canyon......in the middle of February.....we all got out....

He had a surgery in Boulder by a guy who re-attaches them all the time, but say good bye to the next 6 month's for recovery, and more like 6-9 for full recovery.....

Slow process.......but he's fully back now, less than a year after the injury.....

I tore my left Achilles several years ago. Mine didn't tear completely through; it was still hanging on by a thread. But it didn't work at all (and you now know what that feels like!).

I had mine surgically repaired. I was reasonably conservative in getting back into things. I think it was something like 4 months before I started top-roping again, and I waited until 6 months before starting leading again. After spending all that time in casts and on crutches, I wanted to make damn sure I didn't end up back at square one!

I didn't really do any PT other than the obligatory stretching stuff. After a year that lower leg was probably at 90%. I now have more confidence in it than I do in my uninjured leg. (My Achilles tendons are naturally spindly.)

Last I checked, recent research seems to suggest surgery may not be the best bet -- even for a full tear. But reading a few studies online isn't the same as a degree in orthopedics. Find yourself a good doctor, and follow their instructions to the letter. You should be back on it by summer.

Looks like the big thing aside from not being able to climb ice this season or get some back country tele in is the recovery time. Maybe I will be able to get some late season alpine stuff in. Although I will have to learn patience as when I had my knee surgery years ago I pushed to fast to soon and wound up having a second one. I will "will" myself to heal faster!! LOL!!
Well I hope you all have fun get cold and wet this ice season!

I had a complete rupture of my achilles tendon about 7 years ago. I was shotputting, came down wrong on the trig and pow! Like you said - thought something had hit me in the back of the leg. Luckily I was very close to a hospital the specialzed in sports medicine and by coincidence, their specialist in achillies tendons was in looking at some pro soccer player. With a complete rupture, you need it surgically repaired ( I knoew 2 peopel with partials who elected to skip surgury and they still limp). I had the option to wait a week while the swelling grew and then subsided, or have surgery that same day. Since I was already in the ER, I had surgury that same day. I was off crutches and beginning light PT 8 weeks after the operation. It does not take long to recover from the surgury and begin walking and moving again. HOWEVER - the higher the performance level you are, the harder it is to get back there. 8 weeks in a cast had a greater atrophying effect than I could have imagined. Back then I was a 270lb shotputter who did massive amounts of cleans, snatches, deadlifts and other heavy, explosive exercises and it took about 2 years of hard work for the leg to get back to equal stength. I suppose if I had Beckham's trainers and time I could have done better. It was only in the heavy lifting that I noticed the lag - running, walking, hiking, etc was fine.

My advice - as soon as you get the okay, start stretching it. Stretch it all day long. Then when you get the okay, start walking on it. Best way to get the strength back is to walk on it. Be aware of limping and try to avoid it or your back will get wonky fast. Be confident in the repair. They really do a great job with them and it will be every bit as strong as the other.

Oh - if you are married, apologize to your wife ahead of time. I drove mine crazy for the 8 weeks I was on crutches. Going from very active to park for 2 months made me absolutely stir-crazy and I was a miserable SOB to live with the entire time.

Within a year, you'll be climbing like it never happened.

Lets see some pictures of this...pretty bad injury esp if your into climbing. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

At least you can still do pullups and hangboard workouts :p

I haven't had any experience with Achilles tears, but was curious if you took any antibiotics in the recent past. I was prescribed some Cipro a little while back and was surprised by the "black box" warning that came with it telling of increased risk of tendon injury. There were also a number of academic papers out there linking Cipro with Achilles ruptures.

Harold - How's the rehab going?

I'm glad someone brought up the antibiotic thing. Cipro is one of many in that family of antibiotics that are very affective but do rob magnesium from tendons and cause them to break! If your doc gives you a prescription for levaquin, cipro or a drug in that class give it back and ask for another one that works on your infraction. However if you have a bad infection of the kidney,prostate or something that really calls for an antibiotic so strong then the benefits out weigh the risks and is take it in a heart beat.

Many of the 4th gen. of antibiotics in this family have already been pulled from the market.

Sorry to be so ot! Hope your tendon mending goes as well as can be!

I completed ruptured one and 3/4 tear on the other about 20 years ago (at the same time). Surgery is probably a lot better now than it was back then, so definitely get it repaired as soon as you can. The doc told me that I would always walk with a limp. It took me two years to prove him wrong. I was pretty much right after 6 months but had limited movement. Took about another 3 months to get a good range of movement and then about another year before I forgot about them being an issue and could no longer use it as an excuse on a bad climbing day. It has never held me back.

If you don't already have a bike and trainer you're going to need to buy one. Your legs are going to get a lot smaller. Good luck with your recovery. Take plenty of time and don't rush it.

Avery/EMT thanks for the info about the link between tendon injuries & antibiotics. I just sent out an email to few MD friends to get their take on it.

To the OP: Sorry to hear about your injury. I hope you get healed up & back on the rock fast!

Harold,

Coworker of mine tore his and had it repaired by Dr. John Redfern in Colorado Springs. He also replaced my ACL. He was in a cast for about 4 months. Started riding mtn bikes at about 6 months.
Don't take NSAIDs. I've been reading some bad things about them and tendon healing.

I joined the club this last November, fully rupturing my right achilles playing soccer. Here's my timeline below in hopes it will help someone else in the future with recovery expectations (I'll update as milestones are hit):

11/7/16 - Night of accident
11/8/16 - Urgent Care, partial or complete rupture suspected, referred to orthopedic surgeon, boot and crutches issued (Urgent Care gave me a boot that I wore for 3 days until my ortho issued a specific ruptured achilles boot. Do not accept a boot from the ER/UC, as these walking boots are not cheap!)
11/11/16 - Orthopedic appointment, deemed tendon completely ruptured by Thompson test in first 20 seconds of appointment. Surgery scheduled, boot issued.
11/14/16 - Surgery, non weight-bearing
11/22/16 (week 1) - hard cast off, boot on
12/27/16 (week 6) - cleared for weight-bearing, PT started 2x/week
1/24/17 (week 10) - boot off, back in my shoes
3/7/17 (week 16) - cleared to begin jogging and progress to running by ortho, balance/strength/flexibility returning, PT 1x/week
(around week 20) - back to climbing gym (top-rope)
5/15/17 (week 26) - cleared to resume all activities by ortho
5/20/17 - first climb outside! Leg still feels tight when stretching gastroc and soleus. Slab is extra scary now.

Lampasso (& MP community) - How'd your recovery go? Any insight you can pass along? Any milestones I can look forward to? Should I start top-roping at the gym now?

Good luck with the recovery! I did partial damage to mine a couple years and have been working on it since then. Don't drink during your recovery, it fucks the healing up!

Good job doing it complete, a partial really sucks.

Mine was many tears ago, running X country and after surgery it was fine. A long slow, deal, but i bet rehab is much better now

careful with those skis!

Hi all, 

Thanks for all of the insight.  I ruptured my left Achilles playing pick-up basketball. Completely ripped the tendon from the muscle, which apparently is very rare in women. Here's my timeline thus far: 

* 6/28/17 - rupture

* 6/30/17 - surgery to repair left Achilles

* 7/1/17 - ? begin recovery 

I appreciate any insight you can provide... the positive vibes help tremendously! 

~ Bettina