if you were on the fence about investing in the VACOped, I highly recommend checking out this review and my explanation off all the features this boot offers over standard CAM boot
Please do no try at home - I’m a physical therapist so I know my body and readiness to perform more advanced exercises very well. Exercise progression should be guided by your PT/Doctor
Feels amazing to be back on my favorite cardio machine. Vacoped currently at 11°
hope this saves you some money
I do a deep dive into all the scientific studies that have associated collagen with healing and increasing tendon thickness and muscle size. as a physical therapist going through myself, I found collagen to be the supplement with the most scientific evidence around it.
even if you don’t rupture, this complication can significantly impaired your long-term outcome. Posting this because it’s something that not all patients are fully aware of.
hope this deep dive into the science provides some good insight for the non-op healers here
the main elevator was out too. Achilles is holding up well though. Took 12,000 steps on POD 43 with no pain or swelling. Vacoped still at ~22.5°
as a physical therapist myself going through this injury, I’m wanting to make some good resources for others to use. Hope you get some good value from this
At my 5.5-week post-op follow-up yesterday, he told me to be as aggressive as I want, that he’s never had a patient re-rupture, and that the sutures he used are strong enough to lift a car.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting there thinking, “I don’t care if those sutures can launch a rocket into space if my own biological tissue is still the weak link.” 😂
To be fair, maybe that’s just the confidence that comes from his Cleveland Clinic foot-and-ankle fellowship speciality training and I’ll take that over the contrary.
as a physical therapist going through this injury myself, I figured rather than sitting around at home and doing nothing but rehabbing myself and researching the latest evidence based data, I would help my fellow peeps by saving you some time from all the overwhelming research
Hey everyone! After going through my own Achilles rupture and working alongside surgeons as a physical therapist, I put together a short video on how to choose an Achilles surgeon and what questions to ask. If you’re at that stage, I hope this can help! Let me know if you have other questions you found useful when deciding!
My advice as a physical therapist: Anyone that chooses to get a knee scooter in early recovery, PLEASE be extremely careful and understand even a tiny pebble, rug corner, or sidewalk crevice can abruptly jar the wheels to one side.
Safety tip: lower padding height for any outdoor/risky trips so that worst case if you were to fall, its almost impossible to land on foot (as foot would need to abruptly kick forward and cannot do this from a lower height)