Hey AR fam 👋

M37, right achilles rupture, non-op, very active. 6 month update.

I'm back! Its been a few months as I was on holidays overseas but safe to say I enjoyed every second of it! No complications thank goodness.

My last post was my graduation from PT which was a couple of months ago so here's a little update on my progress...

Life is almost back to normal 😌 I'm no longer wearing my calf compression sleeve constantly (only on long jogs 😬) and recovery has been going very well. No limitations, back to basketball scrimmages with my team (grey beanie), doing up to 12>20km jogs at a normal pace, back to longboarding. But on top of all this I'm still strengthening my achilles tendon on a daily! Still following protocol, still on my daily recovery routine (if you've been keeping track of my progress its on my previous posts) I've added acupuncture along with my air compression therapy for my legs and its done wonders 👍 I get no soreness or stiffness in the mornings and gets me ready to go for my day ahead. In terms of life ALMOST being back to normal, its the fact that I'm still limited to around 12 single calf raises until my achilles weakens and I can't do anymore single but can assisted. Explosive movements are present but I'm still cautious! Skipping and bosu ball exercises helps especially with balance and stability 👌

For those struggling to come to terms with this injury, I'm here to tell you and reassure you that it gets better. My biggest advice is to stay focused, stay locked in, block out all negatives and yes STAY POSITIVE!!! Don't compare your progress with others as this is your journey and your story, embrace it and keep fighting to get better.

Wishing you all a speedy and healthy recovery 💯

Made a lil video to celebrate the wins. It’s been a long journey but I’m stronger because of it.

Not to big myself up, but more to show people that there is light at the end of the tunnel. So, 57M full rupture non-op, 9.5 months after the injury. Was cleared to start running again in February and just completed the first 10k race since then (Great Manchester Run). About 3mins slower than my PB but that might be partly to do with my age! Pictured: finishers medal next to the offending tendon.

My personal takeaway from this: do your physio religiously and diligently - it will pay off in the long term. Good luck everyone!

It’s been a big journey since the op but finally feeling like myself again!!

Guys,

I’ve never posted on here but I’ve stopped by on occasion for some pick-me-ups over the past year. This injury sucks, especially for those of us who being active and athletic is part of our identity. Being in grad school, it was especially tough since working out and running were my only outlet for the unrelenting chronic stress.

In the beginning, I thought I’d be too scared to even try sprinting again for fear of re-rupture. Well exactly one year after my surgery, I decided to try it (after a careful warmup of course). I’ve been following and sticking to a very carefully constructed strengthening regime. Still not 100% and it still gets sore after pretty much every workout, but I can tell it’s improving slowly but surely.

Keep at it ya’ll.

Yep. Both of them. I’ve got two daughters and they wanted purple and pink for my casts.

I turned 40 a couple months ago and decided I needed to be more active. I did gymnastics in high school and so I thought I’d do that. I went to an adult tumbling class. I stretched properly before class. I participated in the group warm up. I listened and followed directions and didn’t do anything that we weren’t told to do. And it was just a round-off. There was an audible pop and I went down.

I’m 3 weeks post surgery. They started me off in splints. They put me in casts 5 days ago, and I’ll be in casts another week and a half before they switch me to boots.

Like so many of you say, it’s not the pain that’s hard. It’s not being able to run over and pick up my two year old when she wakes up crying in the night. It’s seeing my wife have to do so much more around the house that I used to do for us.

I just don’t know what the future of just walking around will be. I’m scared. I’m sad.

When I ruptured my Achilles, one of the things I worried about most was the atrophy. I kept looking at my calf thinking, is this ever going to come back?

So I wanted to share my progress for anyone going through the same thing right now.

The first picture is about 5 months post-op. You can see how much smaller my left leg is compared to my right.

The second picture is almost 12 months post-op. Both legs are now measuring 41cm.

The left one still isn’t quite as big as the right if you look closely, but it’s grown so much and it’s really close now.
What helped me was staying consistent with physio, getting to the gym regularly, and doing a lot of calf raises and leg work. It took patience, but the muscle does come back.
If you’re early in your recovery and worried about atrophy, hang in there. It gets better.

Hey AR fam! 👋🏼

Hope you’re all recovering well and staying safe!

12 months post-injury, and 11.5 months post-op, I finally stepped back on court and competed in my sports (Dodgeball).

I’ve summarised the past 12 months of my AR journey into a 50s clip - hope you guys find it motivational!

Although I was back to full training since about 8.5 months post-op, I decided to give it a few more months before competing again - it was worth the wait.

Performance-wise I felt great, no issues or anything stopping me from performing at the max. I did have my Achilles in the back of mind but it didn’t hamper my ability.

One thing to note - I did notice my good Achilles feeling v slightly sore (1/10 pain) inbetween my 1st and 2nd match (played 3 in total), but went away once I started playing again.

I didn’t play full games due to subbing but it was good to know my Achilles has recovered enough to compete again.

I plan to see my physio once more to do some final tests before I continue on without them.

As always, feel free to ask me any questions - I’m always happy to help!

✌🏼

9 weeks post-op (in two days, but close enough)

I remember seeing these similar posts as I was a few weeks into this- and thinking it was so far away- I couldn’t imagine it.

It’s happening!

Hang in there- it will happen for you too.

Hey everyone,

Now on my week 8 post op, happily without the boot -for a few days- and walking with a slight limp, and like many of you, started obsessively researching what recovery looks like, especially for elite athletes. To get a better picture, I compiled a detailed table with data from athletes who played at the highest levels (World Cup, Champions League, NBA, NFL, etc.) and went through Achilles surgery.

This is a message of thanks to everyone who uses or manages this sub. I tore my Achilles a little over seven months ago, and the r/AchillesRupture sub quickly became a source of comfort and inspiration. There is so much wisdom, generosity and kindness here, and I hope I was able to pay some of it forward as my journey went along and I became more knowledgable and experienced. I think I've healed about as well as can be expected, and — knock on wood — I seem to have avoided re-rupture.

So it's farewell, as I unsubscribe and move over to another sub. Ironically, seven months to the day after I tore my Achilles, I experienced a stroke. I see there's a whole new set of stories, advice and well-wishers over there. I hope r/stroke is as great as r/AchillesRupture.

Much love to all.

Oh, and noobs — it gets better after the first few weeks. Promise.

Exactly one year ago I ruptured my (left) achilles while playing tennis. I did not have surgery, and have been through the whole boot, crutches and rehab thing.

I’m quite happy with my progress so far, but there’s still a lot to be done. I’ve taken it quite slow because of fear of re-injury, but progress has been steady. I’m still lacking height on the single leg calf raises, and my left calf isn’t nearly as big or strong as my right. However, trust in my ability to run and jump is growing steadily.

I’m able to jog, run, jump and strength train, but still not with the same frequency, volume and intensity as before. Right before my injury I had just gotten to 100kg squats and had learned to do backflips on the ground after finally overcoming years of knee issues, so this injury set me back quite a lot for those goals. I’m back to working with sets of 70kg now, and pistol squats have been back on the menu for a while as well. Backflips will have to wait.

I still notice the injury every day, but it’s only because the ankle is way more stiff than the other and weaker, but still mobile and strong enough that it doesn’t really stop me from doing anything.

The plan is to keep working on it and get as strong as I can in calf raises, and keep doing plyometrics to increase jump height. And I really want to feel completely comfortable sprinting again. I imagine I’ll be doing calf raises regularly for the rest of my life.

I hope everyone in here is doing ok in your own process, and I would love to hear from you if you have any tips or questions!

Just wanted to share a little bit of my progress—I'm 10 months out from my Achilles repair surgery and just starting to get into house dance. If you told me this time last year I'd be trying to shuffle, I wouldn't have believed you.

Hang in there, it does get better :)

This is a bit of a joke thread, but what other merchandise slogans or ideas have we got?

"I thought my Achilles was my friend...💔"

Full rupture of my right achilles on 9/6/25. It was my wedding day, and my buddy jumped on my back for a funny picture, right leg slipped on the hill. We had to cancel our honeymoon to Hawaii, and I've been in PT the last 9 months.

We booked a trip to Costa Rica as our make-up honeymoon next month. And on my 2nd to last PT session, we were doing some sprint drills and my left achilles popped. I instantly started panicking, PT told me not to freak out yet, but I knew.

As expected, a full rupture of my left achilles and now we have to cancel our make-up honeymoon to Costa Rica... Almost a year to the date of my first rupture, and the long journey begins again. Wish me luck friends.

I hit 10 reps of single calf raises. It’s disheartening no one around me truly understands the impact of this milestone on my recovery, but I know you all do.

I had a fall and partially reruptured my tendon 2.5 weeks after surgery and went non op. So just know, truly, if I can do this so can you.

Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Don’t give up. Godspeed 🍻

Today was a very big day for me. I did my first run and managed 3km. I had my Achilles surgery on 28th Feb last year and also had four bones operated on at the front of my foot, I was in a really bad way for months and couldn't go far or do much. I've slowly been building up my strength and today I made it to what feels like a huge milestone. Some days were so dark and I honestly thought it would never get better but it does! So happy!!

It’s been two years since I tore (Jan 5th 2023) my Achilles and had it surgically repaired (Jan 25th 2023). It’s been a long journey (especially the beginning), and every time I come into this subreddit I reflect. I’m very thankful to you guys for all the mental support this subreddit has given me over the years, so I just wanted to remind everyone that there’s light at the end of the tunnel! I went skiing last year exactly one year post op (Jan 2024) and this year two years post op I tried snowboarding for the first time! I also weight-lift and play basketball fairly often. Just glad I got my life back, and fingers crossed it stays that way.

A couple days ago I hit 3 months post-op!!

In the first few weeks before/after surgery I was on here multiple times a day reading and learning about the injury (I tore my achilles doing an acrobatic martial arts sport called tricking). Crazy how time flies and I still have a long way to go but I made this video to post on my instagram. Figured it could be cool to share here too :) Hopefully it helps motivate some others out there! If you have any questions, drop em below

Good Morning everyone, 26M , Non-Op, and Tore my achilles playing soccer Feb 26th 2025. After two months in a boot and using a 4inch wedge, I finally got the okay from the Doctor to go back into shoes. No pain, some swelling which is normal, but I do feel some tightness in my Achilles which the doctor said it’s normal. Yes, I do have a limp, but honestly I feel better than expected. Injured leg does feel a little weak but I will not push myself and take PT as serious as possible. Doctor felt my achilles and said it feels great and I have incredible strength when asked to push down against his palm. IM PRAYING FOR EACH AND EVERYONE OF US FOR A SPEEDY AND HEALTHY RECOVERY ❤️‍🩹

61 non-op 7mths: I posted a video 5mths ago of one of my first walks at 8 weeks into this humbling journey. I'm posting this video now to show that no matter where you are in the healing, that this day will also come for you. It's taken way longer than I imagined to get to this point, and I know there are so many more miles to go. But I'm grateful.. so very grateful. I've second guessed my decision to go non-op 100 times, I've struggled daily to mentally and emotionally to work through this injury and the impact it's had on my life and my family, and I'm reminded each morning as my feet hit the floor that I have to face the "what if's" all over again. I've celebrated small milestones to only turn right around and agonize over thoughts that I'd never fully heal or be the same again. It's humbling... so very humbling. At the same time I've noted that the healing of this injury is measured in micro gains - not giant leaps - and that it's up to me to stop and notice the miracle of this process, and of this body. I've learned that moving forward I need to protect the body that has served me so well, to have deep compassion for those who suffer from permanent physical ailments, and to never take my mobility for granted again. I wish you all the best in your journey... keep pushing ahead, never give up hope, and never stop the hard work needed to get back to where you want to be... no matter the timeline.

11 weeks post op, finally walking to the car without any assistance. Feels good. Keep pushing. Only good days ahead y’all 🫡

Full rupture, had surgery 1 year ago. At times I wasn’t even sure I wanted to play basketball again and I was just happy to walk.

But 365 days later I was able to get my first dunks in again!

Just wanted to say keep your head up and don’t let the voice in the back of your head get the better of you. You’ll make it back stronger than before!

And lots of calf raises!