What can go wrong with Achilles tendon surgery?
How long do stitches stay in after Achilles tendon surgery?
How do you sleep after Achilles tendon surgery?
Is Achilles tendon repair a major surgery?
How long will it take to walk normally after Achilles tendon surgery?
A healthcare provider will watch you for a few hours after your surgery. When you wake up, you will likely have your ankle in a splint. This is to keep it from moving. Achilles tendon surgery is often an outpatient procedure. This means you can go home the same day.
You will have some pain after your surgery, especially in the first few days. Pain medicines will help relieve your pain. Keep your leg elevated as often as possible. This can help reduce swelling and pain. Make sure to tell your healthcare provider right away if you have a high fever or pain in your ankle or calf that gets worse. After your surgery, you will likely need to use crutches. This is so you can keep your weight off your leg.
About 10 days after your surgery, you’ll need to return to your healthcare provider to have your stitches removed. Your healthcare provider might replace your splint with a cast at this time. If so, follow all instructions about keeping your cast dry. Or, your healthcare provider may give you a special removable boot instead of a cast.
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Your healthcare provider will give you instructions about when you can put weight on your leg. He or she will tell you how to strengthen your ankle and leg muscles as you recover. You may need to do physical therapy to help with your recovery.
Make sure to follow all your healthcare provider’s instructions about medicines, wound care, and exercises. This will help make sure the surgery is a success for you.
Achilles tendon complications
- Excess bleeding.
- Nerve damage.
- Blood clot.
- Wound healing problems.
- Calf weakness.
- Complications from anesthesia.
- Continued pain in your foot and ankle.
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How long does pain last after Achilles surgery?
Achilles tendon surgery is often an outpatient procedure. This means you can go home the same day. You will have some pain after your surgery, especially in the first few days. Take pain medicines exactly as directed.
- If the doctor gave you a prescription medicine for pain, take it as prescribed.
- If you are not taking a prescription pain medicine, ask your doctor if you can take an over-the-counter medicine.
How long do stitches stay in after Achilles tendon surgery?
Your two incisions were closed with stitches, which were covered with small white tapes called Steri-Strips. Your Steri-Strips should be left in place until your sutures are removed 10 to 12 days after surgery.
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What can go wrong with Achilles tendon surgery?
Both open and percutaneous surgeries are successful. More than 80 out of 100 people who have surgery for an Achilles tendon rupture are able to return to all the activities they did before the injury, including returning to sports.
It is sometimes difficult to know how surgeries compare, because the ages and activities of those having the surgeries differ. The success of your surgery can depend on your surgeon’s experience, the type of surgical procedure used, the extent of tendon damage, how soon after rupture the surgery is done, and how soon your rehabilitation program starts after surgery and how well you follow it.
Talk to your surgeon about his or her surgical experience and success rate with the technique that would best treat your condition.
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How do you sleep after Achilles tendon surgery?
Sleep with your sore leg raised. Your doctor will tell you how to keep your leg and foot in the correct position. Keep your leg raised (such as on a pillow) as much as possible for the first few days.
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Is Achilles tendon repair a major surgery?
During the Achilles surgery, an incision is made in the back of the calf. If the tendon is ruptured, the surgeon will stitch the tendon back together. If the tendon is degenerated, the surgeon may remove the damaged part of the tendon and repair the rest of the tendon with stitches. If there is severe damage to a lot of the tendon, the surgeon might replace part or all of your Achilles tendon. This is done with a tendon taken from another place in your foot.
In some cases, the Achilles tendon repair surgery can be done as a minimally invasive procedure. This is done with several small incisions instead of one large one. It may use a special scope with a tiny camera and a light to help do the repair.
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How long will it take to walk normally after Achilles tendon surgery?
Recovering from an Achilles injury is no walk in the park. The Achilles is the largest tendon in your body. It helps you walk, run, jump, and move your foot in every direction. So if you injure or tear it, you won’t be able to do much of anything for a while.
How long it takes for you to heal will depend on how bad your injury is. Tendinitis involves pain and discomfort but no damage to the tendon, so that might be just a few weeks of rest and ice packs. A complete rupture is a totally different story that could take up to a year to heal.
- Day of surgery: When you leave the hospital, you’ll get crutches and instructions not to put weight on the injured leg.
- In 2 weeks: Your doctor will take off your cast to remove the stitches and check how the wound is healing. Depending on how it looks, you could go back into the cast, but more likely you’ll get a walking boot. It’ll have a heel lift to keep your foot and ankle in the right position. You’ll also start rehab. The goal is to let the wound heal while you do some upper-body work. All your weight will still be on the crutches.
- By 4 weeks: The boot will be moved gradually to a neutral position (with heel lifts), and in rehab you’ll learn to walk on it correctly. Your physical therapist will move your ankle a bit and start to show you exercises that’ll help strengthen your calves. You’ll also do more work on your core and hips.
- Between 6 and 8 weeks: You’ll have fewer rehab appointments and should be able to stand on the injured leg for 10 seconds at a stretch. The boot could come off during this time, too. You can do more activities now, but still no high-impact exercise. Your therapist might recommend swimming or biking.
- At 4 to 6 months: You should be back to full activity, but you won’t be totally recovered until about a year after surgery. Even then, your strength might never get back to 100%.
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