Achilles Surgery 20 Weeks Post-Op Update

It takes a while to “get it”; recovery from Achilles surgery takes several months and a lot of patience. You can read about it, you can talk to doctors, and you can talk to people that have had the surgery, but until you experience it, it’s hard to comprehend the psychological ups and downs that take place every day internally. The questions that constantly beg an answer, 1) Will I ever get back to the race paces I once ran? 2) Will I ever enjoy a 20 mile run again?

Ten week post-op, my doctor released me to my physical therapist with the caution, “Do what he tells you and take it easy.” He approved of using of the Arc Trainer but didn’t want me to run for four or five more weeks. Those instructions were given February 2, 2011. The following three weeks I worked out on the Arc Training a total of 16 times burning a total of 19,366 calories. The swelling continued and the soreness was slightly worse after workouts. However, simply being on my feet all day also caused similar soreness. The cardio workouts in February kept my body weight in check and aided in the initial strengthening of my lower legs. I continued to ice my Achilles and began massaging it with Arnica massage oil. Massaging helps to eliminate scar tissue buildup from surgery and diminish the scar itself. I begin deep water running as soon as my cast was removed, transitioned to the Arc trainer four weeks later, and three weeks after that started running. The goal was to regain leg strength and flexibility, with no impact (deep water running), and then build some lower leg strength with cardio. The Arc Trainer provided the initial strengthening with controlled symmetric motion that would not allow overcompensation from the stronger leg or even other muscles.

Thirteen weeks after surgery, early one morning with very nice spring like weather (2-22-2011), I could not stand it any longer. I went out in a brand new pair of running shoes, my Garmin and complete optimism (and a prayer!) and went on my first run; a little over six miles. The next day when I limped into my physical therapist’s office with a smile, he just shook his head articulately exclaiming, “Are you going to listen to anything I tell you?” He told me he only wanted me running three miles every other day. Even though I had done a good bit of conditioning, he was right! During week 13 post-op I started back doing lunges.

The next week (14 weeks post-op) was a mix of four mile runs, deep water runs, and Arc-Trainer workouts. In addition, I added seated and standing two feet calf raises. My ankle swelled some and other areas of the foot were just as sore as the Achilles. Even though I could have done a little more mileage I remembered the reason I had to have surgery was because I didn’t take it easy when I was in pain. There is going to be some pain after surgery, especially when you begin to run again, but this time I learned to stop training runs before the pain became significant. Once I started back running, over the next few weeks I dealt with swelling and soreness in my foot and even would have some nighttime pain. But each week it was almost measurable that those things were improving.

Sixteen weeks post-op, I could do one leg calf-raises with medium discomfort. My daughter said she wanted to go on a run with me. I told her I was planning to go six miles since the day before I had ran six. The weather was perfect and six quickly became eight, and since we went over by a quarter of a mile, honestly she reminded me of one of my favorite distance running buds I trained with for longer runs when she said, “We can’t stop on 8.24, let’s go ahead and do nine!” Of course if you are going to run nine she said, “we might as well run ten!” And ten it was. But I was pretty sore at mile eight. The next day I had to take off and report to my physical therapist for Hivamat and EMS treatments, and as well to be chastised for running ten miles!

The Achilles pain subsided around week 16-18, but soreness developed where it attaches to the Calcaneus bone (heel). This persisted for a few weeks and was due to a tight Achilles. As I continued to run and stretch this pain also became less within a couple of weeks. I continued with a good bit of calf-muscle work; 3 sets of two-leg raises twice a day from week 16-19 post-op and began a more extended workout of seated raises twice a week. I always stopped if there was significant pain.

Eighteen weeks post-op I paced my daughter Kelsey at a 5K. She ran faster than I expected but I had enough miles in the week before to finish with her in 22:43. The Achilles held up and we even ran a 1.5 mile cool down which wasn’t painful. The next morning I ran 8 miles and that was a bit much. There wasn’t much pain while running, but 24 hours afterwards I was a little concerned with the pain and iced and massaged the Achilles. This is how it goes, you begin to feel good running as if you are back to your old self and the next day the pain is a reminder to; “Take it easy, be patient, don’t run every day!” That week I ran a total of 20 miles and the week before that I ran 35 miles, which proved to be too much.


My surgery was 20 weeks ago this past Monday and the previous Saturday I raced/ran my first 5k. I ran a 21:17 on a course I’ve never ran faster than a 19:52. The really good news is that I was able to walk pretty good the rest of the day, and even the next day fairly pain free. I believe I will be able to start back with some speed work next week, (Ahh! Speed work!).

The repaired Achilles does remain a bit stiff and it will take several more months for it to completely stretch and feel normal. But it is working for me without the pain I once suffered. Yesterday I ran ten miles with the Achilles-pro brace which really helps control swelling and pain. Running is becoming fun again!

I have to end this with saying; the pain I once ran with from scar tissue buildup in my Achilles is no more! And people always question if they did the right thing, especially when they are recovering from elective surgery. I am certain that surgery was the best thing for me and I must give a lot of credit to my doctor, Doctor Jamie Burrows at Mississippi Sports Medicine. Also I have to give credit to my physical therapist, Wayne Jimenez at Medicomp, who convinced me to be patient, at least as much as I was going to be!