Looking for similar experiences in others. My friend ruptured her achilles and had to have surgery to repair it. They also did a release (lengthening) as the tendon was too tight and they put a graft over the rupture repair site. She is hoping to get back to jumping mini prixs. Any success stories out there???
I cut my Achilles as a teenager and had surgery (no graft though). I was riding within 3-4 months, I think, though it took a year of rehab before it felt reasonably even riding, and several years before I could run and do other “ground” sports.
This was 20 years ago, and aside from the first year or 2 (when I was riding but it still felt less flexible than the other side) it really hasn’t impacted my riding at all. I evented extensively in the years that followed.
Good luck to your friend.
A few years ago I had major tendonitis in both achilles and fell down a flight of stairs at school. Doctor said it was hanging by a thread and said I couldn’t ride for at least a month. The longer I waited to ride, the tighter it got and more often it hurt. As soon as I started riding again it started to stretch out and get stronger. Maybe riding easy would help with their PT. Don’t push it but don’t just sit with your leg up either haha.
My friend is undergoing progressive casting. Her first splint after surgery had her toes pointed fairly far down. Two weeks later they removed the splint and moved her toes up some and then casted it. Tomorrow she gets this cast off and then toes moved up again and re-casted. Surgeon estimates 2 months for this process and then rehab can start. She had no swelling and almost no pain so I think that’s good but she is stir crazy. She’s used to riding 3-4 horses a day and taking care of her own horses. She is very worried that she may not be able to ride again much less jump large jumps if the tendon won’t hold. I talked to my PT about it and he tells me it is major rehab so I think she’s got a solid year ahead of her before we really know whether she can get back to her prior level of competition. It breaks my heart as she just purchased this amazing AO jumper this year and they had barely started to compete. If anyone has any recovery stories or knows of anyone who recovered fully from this kind of injury to compete again I’d really like to hear them so I can share with her. Thank you…
My husband completely severed his Achilles Tendon 4 months ago to the day. He was unloading hay in our hay mow and stepped backwards in the dark and actually heard it “snap”. His foot was dangling like it was held by a string. Pretty scary! There was about a one inch gap on the ultrasound. He did the progressive casting as noted above and a month ago actually started to put some weight on it. He still uses a cane if walking a lot but actually is walking much more comfortably now and back to work full time. His Doctor has given him an excellent prognosis with full recovery. That’s a good thing as he is an avid sportsman…If all goes well I would expect in another few months she will be good to go! 
My daughter’s Achilles contracted when she was seven years old, as the result of a rare autoimmune disease. She walked on tiptoe for almost five years. She had the lengthening surgery at age 11, but being so young, was not into the “pain for gain” aspect of physical therapy, and we were worried about her losing the gains of her surgery. My acupuncturist, who is normally not pushy at all, insisted I bring her in, and long story short, she’s made incredible progress after that. I had to bribe her with a kitty to keep her going to acupuncture (she was terrified of the needles at first), but now she’s an old pro. I credit acupuncture for making all the difference in her recovery.
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My daughter’s Achilles contracted when she was seven years old, as the result of a rare autoimmune disease. She walked on tiptoe for almost five years. She had the lengthening surgery at age 11, but being so young, was not into the “pain for gain” aspect of physical therapy, and we were worried about her losing the gains of her surgery. My acupuncturist, who is normally not pushy at all, insisted I bring her in, and long story short, she’s made incredible progress after that. I had to bribe her with a kitty to keep her going to acupuncture (she was terrified of the needles at first), but now she’s an old pro. I credit acupuncture for making all the difference in her recovery.[/QUOTE]
Thank you so much. My friend’s PT is a big believer in acupuncture as well so she’ll get plenty as part of her rehab. Good to know it helped your daughter so much.
We just started week 5 post-op and they’ve put her back in a posterior splint and she’ll be starting rehab sooner than I expected. I thought she’d have a few more weeks of progressive casts. I guess it all depends on how its healing. She went back to work halftime the second week and then back full time the third week but she is hard-core tough horse girl. 
I hope your husband’s recovery proceeds well and he gets back to full mobility and range of motion. My fingers are crossed for my friend. Thanks for the stories to share with her.
