Newest member of the achilles rupture club

[jercrane]

I just joined the unfortunate ranks of Achilles rupture sufferers. Really unfortunate over engagement of the tip at 3 ball in a stupid easy pass and the binding didn’t release soon enough. Sigh. C’est la vie in the sport of waterskiing.

 

Surgery Monday

 

Any tips from those who have gone before? I’m looking for robust long term recovery not speed of recovery. This ski season is done. If I can squeeze in some mellow alpine skiing at the end of next winter so be it.

 

 

[Minelickskier]

So sorry! I too had an accident at three ball late yesterday....had x rays this morning on my right ankle...and orthopedist appt. upcoming...good luck with the surgery and maybe you’ll be skiing by September!

[jercrane]

@Minelickskier disliking because that sucks you might be stuck on the shore too. Sorry man

[Minelickskier]

@jercrane ....i was trying to be supportive...and yes I am stuck on the shore

[Zman]

@jercrane. Just be sure to have a good PT, coordinating your rehab program and tracking your progress with your surgeon.

Key will be establishing normal ROM, progressively, not too quickly. Then rebuild strength and conditioning

Good luck. Best wishes!

[Jmoski]

Bummer man - sorry to hear that. I blew my left Achilles 5 years ago, had surgery June 2nd, was back to running by December, and water skied on February vacation. Be diligent about the PT, be patient with the recovery.

 

I think in the end it was 9 months before I was physically back to normal day to day, but took until the end of the following Summer before I was over it mentally (as in not thinking about re-injuring it).

 

Good news is I am 100% and I don’t think about it anymore outside of being diligent to warm up before activity and do my post mobility stretches.

 

DM me if there are any questions I can answer for you.

[jercrane]

@Minelickskier i know, I didn’t know how to respond. “Like” felt wrong ? Hoping it’s false alarm for you.

[BraceMaker]

Premature welcome to the MOB squad. The Achilles loads with out the ankle angling down so both flexibility and strength are necessary.

 

Front or back door?

[mmosley899]

@jercrane sorry to hear of your misfortune, definitely work hard on the rehab and you’ll be back.

[Luzz]

@jercrane I have been through Achilles as well. Here's a bit of bulletpoint advice that I hope can be of help:

If you are not in a rush, think 6 months. You'll hear stories of people being back in 3-4 months, but they all had reasons to rush, some understandable (pro athletes with a comp schedule) and some less ("I booked a vacation").

Get a good surgeon. The surgery is simple, but there are options of how to reattach, so you want to make sure you get someone that will explain all the options to you. For instance, I decided to go for a smaller reinsertion, meaning that after PT my repaired Achilles is slightly longer than my healthy one. This inevitably lends to less muscle tone in the calf, but apparently the chances of re-rupture reduce drastically.

Once stitches are off and your scar is healed, massage the Achilles a LOT. You'll find videos on how to do it with a scraper-looking tool, but there are also manual techniques to avoid excessive scar tissue to build up between skin and tendon

Get a great PT. The more you hate him/her during the rehab process, the better the PT is. Regaining balance and muscle tone is not going to be a joke, so find someone that will challenge you. If they have a reputation of working with athletes, probably it's a good start. However, word of mouth is also a good metric

This is a great chance to re-evaluate and learn about water skiing. I snapped my Achilles at a time where I was skiing the best slalom in my life, so it wasn't an easy time. But it was also the end of the skiing season, so I could put it in perspective. I called a bunch of skiers asking for the type of advice you are asking now. The best gem came for the legendary Glenn Campbell: "I learned more about water skiing during those six months than I had ever had before"

Down the line, when the doc and PT will tell you that you are ready to be back on the water/snow, you are READY. The only reasons to "take it easy" at first that are justifiable are lack of training, muscle tone, feel, etc. I decided to spend a month on the Freeride and do a bunch of long-line skiing just to regain skiing muscles and shape. However, as the doctor insisted, I was 100% fine to be back as far as my tendon.

Related to the point above, wait until they tell you so. Your experience of being back doing sports will be much smoother.

[epnault]

Man that sucks. I hope everything goes smooth on the surgery and rehab. I had a big tip grab on a turn a week ago but thankfully my reflex binding released. I got to admit I flinched-scary

 

@BraceMaker what is the MOB squad?

[Andre]

I was you 4 years ago. https://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/16009/3-of-my-favorites-skiers-are-injured

 

Excellent (as always) advices from Luzz.You can see he's been there.Few things i can add...

 

Get a knee scooter instead of crutches.

Don't try to walk on it before ok from Dr even if you don't hurt.

Do your PT religiously but don't overdo it either.

About 1 month into my PT i still had a lot of swelling.Therapist started doing some sports taping on my foot and swelling was gone in 36 hrs.

Since i was already reading anything waterski i decided to start another hobby:craft beers.That's a very dangerous hobby cause next season i was 20lbs overweight for the start of next season.Careful! :)

I was name official driver for the rest of the season that year.At least i was with the guys.

Took 4 months to go back to work as i have a physical job,couldn't stay in a ladder for long.I was totally pain free about 5 months after surgery.Flex came back 100%,strenght about 80%.Totally normal for a 52 y.o. at the time.Doctors and PT said that being in good shape prior helped get things back to normal faster.

Good luck!

 

[jercrane]

Thanks fellas I appreciate.

 

@Luzz thats the playbook and guidance I am looking for thank you! Your approach aligns exactly with how I am thinking about things. My short term goal is to be chill snow skiing

 

One thing that is going to be complicated for me is PT. We are living up in NH and have been since March to hide out from Covid. I have a good surgeon I know up here actually but no clue on PT. In Boston where we live normally I have lots of options.

 

Maybe I can find someone doing telemed PT and I’ll just suck it up and buy a bunch of bands and small weights etc.

 

Along those lines anyone know a PT they might recommend that knows waterskiing? Maybe they would be open to telemed and that opens my options to pretty much anyone.

 

@Andre I already have an affinity for craft beers ... uh oh :#

[mmosley899]

@jercrane Monica Seal is not only a PT she is a very accomplished skier.

[Lovell]

I am four years out from the same injury. Sorry to hear about yours. Religious participation in PT is the key. If you want to keep the pounds off, use the crutches the whole time rather than the scooter. That’s what I did. I literally crutched everywhere, upstairs, downstairs, through the airport, etc. terrific workout.

With religious participation in PT, I was physically back in 6-9 months. It took another two years before for me to get back mentally in relation to water skiing, but taking it slow was worth it.

The mental come back in snow skiing and other sports was faster.

Good luck and stay positive.

[Zman]

Great post by @Luzz

He covers it all very well. I was OK'd by my surgeon to ski at 6 months also. But, it was winter, so I gave it 2 more months. Ran easy passes and some free skiing initially. Then, never looked back, other than to use it as a lesson to improve my skiing.

The Bosu ball is a good training aid to regain balance, or proprioception. But, there are many others as well.

 

[Skoot1123]

Sorry to hear about the injury. That is a tough pill to take. Hope you have a quick recovery! PT? @cragginshred

[Andre]

Second the Bosu ball.Used it a lot at PT and got one for home too.

[davemac]

Sorry to hear. I'll be up there on the lake tomorrow, possibly with Jeb and Matt B. Don't you know those guys (blue Malibu)? Both are also Prof (snow) ski instructors? They are avid "scar collectors"...and thus a great resource for PT referrals in your area. I would start there. I'll give them a headsup and/or give you their contact info.

 

[jercrane]

@davemac a good Sports minded PT within 30 minutes of Squam would be amazing if you have any recs. Most of the PT clinics in this area are focused on occupational therapy and senior mobility. I’m not ready for that yet. ?

[skierjp]

Do not use crutches, get a knee scooter. 7 months till you can ski. You are not 100% till you can do a single leg calf raise as high as the good leg. Much harder than you would think. Probably the worst part is getting it out of your head when you start back skiing. I did mine the last of July 2017 and I can still feel slight numbness at the surgery site but no big deal. I have to say if I new this would happen again I would quit skiing, way worse then my rotator cuff.

 

[Andre]

@skierjp

Can you do calf raise as high as the good leg? I know i'm not able to,maybe 80% and the strenght to get there is certainly not the same

[ScottScott]

That sucks, sorry to hear @jercrane Hoping for a smooth surgery and recovery....

 

Do you mind sharing what your boot/binding setup is?

[epnault]

@skierjp

Oh man. That image struck some fear. Ouch

[vtmecheng]

@epnault the MOB squad is what @mmosley899 calls people who use the Mike's Overall Binding (MOB) system. Hopefully this injury was a strange situation type thing and not caused by a faulty release system.

 

Either way, heal up quick. Make sure to keep blood flowing post surgery. After my last foot surgery I made sure to do upper body and core lifting to the extent possible. Exercise helps reduce swelling and push blood throughout your body, which improves healing. Also, don't be afraid to dump your PT if the person isn't working out or you just want to try a couple at the start before picking one. A good PT can be really hard to find.

[Andre]

Don't we have a resident PT on BOS ?

[jercrane]

@ScottScott I was on Reflex Super Shell 3.0 with the 840 release. Tension is set at 4.0 and I weigh 165ish. Its my third season on the reflex and honestly I've done what I did multiple times before and had it release just fine. Could be I need to lubricate the springs? or it could simply be I had just enough angular loading that the spring didn't release quite right. It's an inherently dangerous sport and there is no binding that can completely eliminate all injuries. I know folks that swear by the MOB system and I'll certainly check it out. I just always shy away from systems that feel like I'm hacking things together. Not that the release mechanism is a hack but you have to bolt things to your shell etc. I like systems that are holistic in engineering design intent.

 

I'm still gonna check out MOB for next year. Or I may just turn my release down and be ok with a few prereleases. I'm not going for world records or anything.

[skierjp]

@Andre probably 85 to 90%. My accident happened on my on side with the tail blowing out going around 4 ball.

[ScottScott]

Just curious if it was a slip out boot, or a release system, or what. Understood, there is no doubt there isn't any guarantee against any injuries in this type of sport with any system. The reflex may not release in all directions, but a heel lift type release is what it is best at and seems like thats what should have happened. Most likely just a bad luck situation.

 

I wouldn't want to leave the suggestion that the MOB is in anyway a "hacked together" system tho. The boot plate, and release plate and the relationship between the two are very refined products professionally manufactured with strict tolerances. The fact that there isn't a set boot that must be used with the system is an advantage. A variety of boots can be bolted on very cleanly. Worth a closer look.

[jercrane]

@ScottScott yeah for sure. I’ve never really looked at a MOB IRL. I dismissed originally due to bolt on plate approach but I will revisit for sure. Not meaning to imply it’s a hack and not well designed.

 

If I have any take away for anyone it would be to test your release mechanism regularly. Stand on your swim platform with front foot in and try to run forward while pushing knee down and lifting heal. It should fairly easily eject. There’s a video kicking around somewhere on here of @Horton demonstrating this. I had not done this in a long time.

 

Who knows whether it would have prevented this or not. Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Time to heal and dream of someday getting that full pass at green and maybe someday get into blue even. :)

[skierjp]

My Achilles was on a Radar Vapor Cabinex. 1 month old and the top bungee already needed replaced. That's how tight I had them. Totally my fault. Still using the same bindings but the top bungee only snug. FYI front foot is the one that ruptured.

[jercrane]

Just going to throw this in here in case anyone else comes across later. Surgery yesterday so now I’m hobbled for the next 1-2 months with no weight bearing.

 

I ended up getting an iWalk crutch. It’s sort of like best of both worlds for crutches and knee scooters.

 

 

So far I am a big fan. I’m pretty mobile at this point obviously won’t work when I start needing to do partial weight bearing but that’s a month away at least.

 

https://iwalk-free.com/

 

Also sell on amazon.

 

[BraceMaker]

Make sure to take that off and extend your knee from time to time. Had something like that after a femur but with a thigh cuff and had to resolve a 10 degree flexion contracture

[skierjp]

Knee scooter

[BlueSki]

@jercrane, I used one of those crutches for an ankle surgery. It works great and I was fairly active with it. I refused to use a scooter at work. The only bad part is the three buckles if you just need to get up because you left your phone on the other side of the room.

 

I hope the healing and rehab go well.

[vtmecheng]

Look up Tony Gentilcore On Facebook or Instagram. He's a top level sports trainer who just happened to rupture his Achilles not too long ago. He's been posting some of his exercises and I like how he has adapted them to what he's allowed to do. Good luck on the recovery.

[jercrane]

I don’t know I’m only using this as a substitute for regular crutches and I am spending the vast majority of my day with leg elevated. It’s just for getting around the house. There’s no office for me to go to and I live in a house that is not really scooter compatible. I probably have this thing on my leg like 15 minutes a day in total right now.

 

Fwiw I had no anchors placed and my surgeon said it was a very clean very straightforward tear. I have not seen the incision yet but he told me it’s only about 2 inches long. The tendon basically just tore inside the “sheath” and just stayed right there. I’m sure those are not the correct medical terms but that’s roughly how he explained.

 

Will check out Tony Gentilcore thanks @vtmecheng

 

 

[vtmecheng]

It helps that Tony Gentilcore is a really good guy and many of his articles interject some humor to help keep them enjoyable reads. Remember that attitude can make a difference too. For some reason, staying positive really seems to improve healing time.

[Rednucleus]

@Gloersen I'm not on one of those things ...yet - hope you didn't jinx me for tonight's ski

[jercrane]

Ok sorry to keep pulling this thread up. Was going to ping a couple of you direct but then thought maybe others might want the info later.

 

I’m two weeks post surgery today. I’m wondering how delicate this tendon repair is at this point. Surgeon already has me at neutral as he said I had very little tension in the tendon. I’ve always been pretty flexible. I’m being super careful not to actuate my foot or doing anything intentionally to stretch the tendon. Occasionally though I’ll like adjust my leg at night or something when I’m half asleep and get a little tug in the back of my ankle where the repair is. It’s not painful. I just feel a little pressure. Like slack coming out of a rope. This is all while fully secure in my boot and all that. Do I need to worry about these little tension events? Everyone keeps telling me how important it is to not stretch the tendon for the first 4 weeks. Am I being hyper sensitive or what?

 

How fragile is this thing?

[Bhaynes85]

@jercrane wish you a speedy recovery!!! Hope it al works out well, and your back on the water soon!!

[Jmoski]

@jercrane - that’s probably best answered by your surgeon, I can’t remember if I experienced that at night. Part of the issue is there are so few blood vessels in that region and hence healing takes a long time...

[6_Buoys]

Mine was 5 years ago now. I was not in a neutral stance for several weeks. Mine tore directly of the bone. I began to wonder if I would ever walk normal again, but I followed the Dr's instructions and was religious with PT. Ruptured mine in September so I didn't ski again for 7-8 months, but I was skating in 4-5 months. I did not regain full flexion, I am probably at 97%, I have a small heel support in my boot. It's tough now but keep the faith, you will ski again. I know several others up my way that have done this also and all are back on the water. I vote scooter.

[jercrane]

Hey folks I felt like this needed to be shared in here. @Luzz sent this to me in a DM and I found it to be a really great podcast. Honestly for anyone dealing with an injury in sport be it pro athlete or amateur.

 

Definitely worth a listen when you get a chance.

 

https://injuredathletesclub.com/2020/05/14/26-water-skier-and-coach-matteo-luzzeri-strength-through-support/

 

Off to go find a couple empty chairs now ...