Achilles tendon injury

I'm writing this is something of a morose mood - my right leg is in plaster from knee to toes, having torn my achilles tendon.

Has anyone else suffered this injury? If so, what precautions - if any - do you take for skiing to protect the achilles and prevent a repeat tear?

Many thanks.

bad luck ..stretched mine once ...that was bad enough ...i reckon a good pair of boots is decent protection but I hope it is better by the seasons start

Oh dear! How did you manage to do it? :shock: Still, I suppose that if you are going to end up in plaster, this is probably a good month :mrgreen:
I've not damaged mine, but I had an appointment with a Surgeon (skier) some years ago who'd snapped his playing Squash. This was September and he'd not got it stitched together by one of his colleagues at the time, was still working in Theatre (lower leg/foot in plastic frame) and reckoned he'd be skiing at Christmas.
I also reckon your boot will protect the tendon (amateur opinion). You'll have some Physio ahead of you to get the leg back in shape once the pot comes off.

What an awful thing to happen! I hope you recover soon and get the plaster cast off in time for the ski season. It must be very uncomfortable and difficult to get about at the moment.

Ally

Not quite the same but I suffer from tendonitis in my Achilles, which flared up about 2 months before my trip last season. I didn't have an problems other than it being a bit sore on the evening of the 3rd day.

As I'm sure the doc has said, plenty of stretches when you are out of plaster and you should be fine.

Thanks. Sorry, Mr Barr, there's not much in common between a torn achilles and tendonitiis (other than the general location!). The only cure is immobilisation, which is well underway.

I'm told the biggest problem is likely to come when putting ski boots and taking them off. That's when an awful lot of pressure goes on the achilles, apparently.

Only another five weeks in plaster to go!

LOTA wrote:Thanks.

I'm told the biggest problem is likely to come when putting ski boots and taking them off. That's when an awful lot of pressure goes on the achilles, apparently.

Only another five weeks in plaster to go!

Oooh, I didn't know that about the Achilles :shock:

Hang in there, I'm guessing it's hugely frustrating right now, but it's the quickest fix )

Treating an Achilles tendon rupture in this way will leave you with a very stiff ankle and weak calf muscles. The preferred method here is to use the Vacoped orthotic treatment system: http://www.vacoped.com/de-en/home.html http://www.oped.it/download/Studi%20internationali%20Vacoped%20versus%20Cast.pdf.

Specialist treatment at a foot and ankle clinic might reduce your recovery time considerably: http://www.cfas-uk.com/about-us.html http://www.cfas-uk.com/pdf/vacoped-rehab.pdf

Warming your ski boots in a Hot Gear heated boot bag will make them much easier to put on. Alternatively you could get a ski boot shoe horn: http://www.thebootster.com/ .To take the boots off, press down on the back of the boot shell, step the other foot forward, bend your knee down towards the ground until the liner pops a little way out of the boot, then push down on the back of the liner.