[OwenFW]

An MRI two weeks ago revealed a peroneal brevis tendon tear on top of achilles problems resulting from Häglund’s deformity previously found in an x-ray of my left foot. My podiatrist is recommending removing the deformity and repairing the tendon, and I’m inclined to follow his advice given how difficult the symptoms surrounding all of this have been to rehab. My normal strategy of getting stronger hasn’t worked, nor has rest.

Anyway, I’m starting to wrap my head around needing to stay off this foot completely for 3 weeks and then the long process of rehabilitation. If anyone has experience with this type of surgery, I’m all ears. The thing most on my mind is trying to figure out how to minimize my loss of fitness (I mostly run) and perhaps gain some different fitness during this process. I have a stationary bike, rower, hangboard and a good free weight setup, as well as access to a lap pool, treadmill and globogym machines including upper body erg.

I wonder if some custom UA programming for the recovery period would be useful. Any of the coaches specialize in this sort of thing? The surgery won’t be until about Thanksgiving, but I’ll probably put a pause on running now and switch to bike/row/swim to avoid making this thing any worse.

Topic

[Pete Dickinson MS,PT]

Pete Dickinson MS,PT on September 23, 2020 at 11:27 am #45333

Owen,
You certainly have all the tools available to shift methods during your period of modified weight bearing. My general recommendations would be to use upper body strength training as a stimulus for the endocrine system to aide in tissue healing and recovery. If you can use a tegaderm waterproof dressing or leg ‘condom’ to protect the surgery site, deep water running is an excellent tool. My skiers that have had this surgery return to presurgery fitness without much difficulty. The devil is in the details of not loading up on the foot too quickly causing inflammation and losing training time.
Cheers,
Pete