# Achilles Tear



## double

I tore my achilles playing soccer Tuesday night. Was heading out west in 2 weeks so clearly not the best timing (but I guess never is). Curious if anyone here has had a similar injury and how the recover went. Thanks.


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## Deacon

Go to a doctor and find out how severe the tear is. I ruptured mine last year, and you're going to want to avoid doing THAT.


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## freshy

Mine was a bit different. My dog tried to bolt out of the house and I tried to grab him, had a heavy screen door that would sometimes slam shut and it slammed right on my achilles. Ended up cutting a huge flap of skin and skinned my achillies. Apparently that tendon is a purple color.
My recovery went fine.


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## double

The Deacon said:


> Go to a doctor and find out how severe the tear is. I ruptured mine last year, and you're going to want to avoid doing THAT.


Thanks, I couldn't walk very well and went to the doctor the next day. I have a full tear and scheduled for surgery this Thursday. Its a long road to recovery but I am hoping to be back boarding by the start of next season. How long did your recovery take? Thanks.


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## grafta

I ruptured mine at the end of two summers ago and had surgery pretty much exactly 6 months out from boarding season. I still rode the first days of the shred season. Felt sketchy to start, but I did it. I think the physio helped loosen it up, internal scar tissue etc and went pretty hard on the rehab. Good luck, and get some movie watching done :thumbsup:


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## double

grafta said:


> I ruptured mine at the end of two summers ago and had surgery pretty much exactly 6 months out from boarding season. I still rode the first days of the shred season. Felt sketchy to start, but I did it. I think the physio helped loosen it up, internal scar tissue etc and went pretty hard on the rehab. Good luck, and get some movie watching done :thumbsup:


Thanks for responding and for the good wishes!


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## jml22

Rehab rehab rehab rehab rehab rehab
Make sure it's functional rehab so you don't get hurt again
When i mean functional rehab i mean
Stuff like this
Gray Cook Movement


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## linvillegorge

That sucks man. ACLs get all the press, but an Achilles tear is a helluva lot worse. Elite athletes can often come back from an ACL in 6 months or so. It takes them a good 18 months to come back from an Achilles and many are never even close to the same. I remember when UNC basketball and football recruit Ronald Curry won the McDonald's All-American slam dunk competition in HS. The guy was an unbelievable athlete. #1 recruit in the nation for football and basketball. Michael Vick says to this day that Ronald Curry was better than he ever was. But, Curry tore his Achilles his freshman year and I never recall him dunking a basketball in a UNC jersey. Completely changed who he was as an athlete. He went on to have a decent NFL career as a WR, but tore his Achilles twice more before he retired.


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## Deacon

double said:


> Thanks, I couldn't walk very well and went to the doctor the next day. I have a full tear and scheduled for surgery this Thursday. Its a long road to recovery but I am hoping to be back boarding by the start of next season. How long did your recovery take? Thanks.


Mine happened 1/20/11. I was out of work a month, and when i went back, it was pretty limited walking. Once i could walk ok, with a heel lift, i did as much as i could, and got rid of the heel lift as fast as my pain tolerance would allow. I started doing single leg calf raises at about 6mos, could only do one or two at a time at first. But i was ready to rock at the start of this season. Do not skip your stretching, strengthening and especially scar therapy (hurts like hell). My left calf is still half the size of my right calf, but its coming back. Good luck, and listen to your body.


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## huckfin

i completely ruptured mine two seasons ago skating, i had the surgery, rehabbed like a madman and was on a snowboard 6 months later, but i had almost no strength built up yet... it's a bitch to rehab and strengthen foot muscles when they've sat dormant for 8 weeks of non weight bearing crutch movement. all your balance goes away when you start rehabbing, work balance exercises into your rehab, i paddleboarded and skated a lot during rehab to strengthen my foot muscles.. it sucks but you can't rush it, good luck.


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## double

linvillegorge said:


> That sucks man. ACLs get all the press, but an Achilles tear is a helluva lot worse. Elite athletes can often come back from an ACL in 6 months or so. It takes them a good 18 months to come back from an Achilles and many are never even close to the same. I remember when UNC basketball and football recruit Ronald Curry won the McDonald's All-American slam dunk competition in HS. The guy was an unbelievable athlete. #1 recruit in the nation for football and basketball. Michael Vick says to this day that Ronald Curry was better than he ever was. But, Curry tore his Achilles his freshman year and I never recall him dunking a basketball in a UNC jersey. Completely changed who he was as an athlete. He went on to have a decent NFL career as a WR, but tore his Achilles twice more before he retired.


Curry signed a 5 year $20mm contract with the Raiders AFTER his 2nd Achilles tear and had 10 catches for 133 yards in his first game. Lots of athletes have come back from Achilles tears including Dominique Wilkens, Elton Brand, David Beckham, Demarious Thomas and Terrell Suggs. They of course benefit from top trainers and don't have other jobs that take them away from rehab (not to mention deer antler spray) but I will be happy to settle for 3 years at $15mm (or less)!


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## grafta

Achilles ruptures are all good to come back from 100%. Don't let anyone tell you different!

You'll have more chance of rupturing the other one than re-rupturing the one you've already done... not that you wanna hear that though 

Wow, a few people here who've done it too :blink:


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## double

huckfin said:


> i completely ruptured mine two seasons ago skating, i had the surgery, rehabbed like a madman and was on a snowboard 6 months later, but i had almost no strength built up yet... it's a bitch to rehab and strengthen foot muscles when they've sat dormant for 8 weeks of non weight bearing crutch movement. all your balance goes away when you start rehabbing, work balance exercises into your rehab, i paddleboarded and skated a lot during rehab to strengthen my foot muscles.. it sucks but you can't rush it, good luck.


Thanks for the advice and good wishes!


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## double

grafta said:


> Achilles ruptures are all good to come back from 100%. Don't let anyone tell you different!
> 
> You'll have more chance of rupturing the other one than re-rupturing the one you've already done... not that you wanna hear that though
> 
> Wow, a few people here who've done it too :blink:


Thanks for the post. I know a lot of athletes have come back from achilles tears (see above) but was worried it might take awhile to board given on how much ankle movement there is. Glad to see you me others have been through the same thing.


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## Deacon

double said:


> Thanks for the post. I know a lot of athletes have come back from achilles tears (see above) but was worried it might take awhile to board given on how much ankle movement there is. Glad to see you me others have been through the same thing.


Post surgery front









incision, no big deal.:dizzy:


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## double

The Deacon said:


> Mine happened 1/20/11. I was out of work a month, and when i went back, it was pretty limited walking. Once i could walk ok, with a heel lift, i did as much as i could, and got rid of the heel lift as fast as my pain tolerance would allow. I started doing single leg calf raises at about 6mos, could only do one or two at a time at first. But i was ready to rock at the start of this season. Do not skip your stretching, strengthening and especially scar therapy (hurts like hell). My left calf is still half the size of my right calf, but its coming back. Good luck, and listen to your body.


Deacon, thanks for the advice and the posting the pics. Glad to see you have made a full recovery.


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## tinman143

Terrible that this is my 1st post but hard to not having gone through this injury. Mine was done playing bball back in '06. Unlike most folks, I elected to do the old school recovery which was through a cast and my own rehab. Since I didn't do surgery, my rehab was through cycling and walking/running/stretching program over a longer period than typical. I wasn't in any rush.

Remember this area is low circulation so doing daily massaging isn't a bad idea. Speedy recovery!


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