Well if Murphy's law can be relied on, the wind should be on the way. I ruptured my Achilles Sunday night and unfortunately the cast is too big for a footstrap -not to mention that the doc would not be impressed if I got the cast wet (even though it is fibreglass).

Anyone out there with experience with this kind of injury?
-how long to get back on the water (I've heard 6 mos or more )?
-any tips to make things easier/go better?
-rehab?

In case you were wondering, it did it sprinting. Apparently it is not an uncommon injury in my age bracket. Ask me another time and I'll give you the whole storey.

Lessons learned:
-I am not 14 years old
-adrenalin can put stresses on your body that may exceed UTS
-match the reaction to the the action (no need to take six months off the water for a couple o' lousy kids pranking your doorbell)

S.

Sorry to hear about this Saulman.

Was it a full or partial rupture? The type will affect healing/recovery time.

Regarding tips to speed recovery; start physio with a good manual therapist ASAP and get regular massage as soon as you can tolerate the pressure near or around the injury. Acupuncture will help reduce swelling and increase circulation greatly. Your good leg, hip, and back will be taking a beating while you favour the injured side, so treating these areas with chiro, physio and/or massage will be very helpful as well. It's really important to start working on your range of motion as soon as your Doc says it is ok to do so. This sort of injury may lead to contracture (shortening and hardening of the involved muscles/soft tissue, causing reduced joint range). Contractures suck, so do your homework (rehab mercilessly).

Speedy recovery to you!

-it was fully ruptured. So what might be a typical recovery time-line for that?

Can I do anything to avoid a contracture until the rehab starts (6 wks in the cast) or is just one of those things to work through once the cast is off?

And lastly, thanks for the tip on treating the good side with some kindness. I never thought of that but your right, the rest of the body is already feeling the added stress. I'll set up some chiro or massage appointments.

S

bummer, I did a partial on mine doing windsprints during football practice...after the practice, all tired, in the freezing temps after we had a short rest during scrimmage.....brilliant coach
I WAS close to 14 and it didn't prevent it....doc back then said to just treat it kindly and it would scar over bad advice I think, I was still limping 2 yrs later and even now sometimes I feel a twinge and then need to stretch it out....so doing nothing I would NOT recommend. As Wdoc says, better do your homework, I had much better results attackiing my physio with a vengeance after my ACL tear.

Neither is contact sport recommended now that I'm almost 50 I have come to realize that, a wee bit late