Today I’m checking in with one of the final posts of my rehab phase.
For about two weeks, there was no update – simply because I’ve finally reached a phase where I don’t think about the injury every single day.
The exercises are still the same: I’m doing sports six days a week.
Every other day I go to the gym (finally including leg training again), and on the remaining days I do my physio exercises at home.
My strength is growing steadily.
Exercises that were extremely difficult in the beginning – where I thought "WTF, how am I ever going to manage this?" – now feel easy.
Other, especially new ones, are still very hard.
It’s a never-ending cycle that will drag on until I finally return to 100%.
But those who stay consistent and keep doing the exercises will ultimately come out as winners.
In this context, I want to talk about the idea of individuality, or that phrase:
"Everyone's path is different."
I absolutely hated hearing that at the beginning.
Right after the injury, you just want to know when XYZ will be possible again.
I couldn’t understand why my physio setup was different from others.
I mean, there are only a handful of surgical methods.
So if I’m average in terms of leg condition – why isn’t my healing process average too?
Now I’ve come to realize something:
A factor many forget is the factor of work.
How much physio effort am I putting in to get fit again ASAP?
And that’s just one piece of a huge puzzle of factors that make each case unique:
- How fit was I before?
- How strong were my legs before?
- How much time do I want to invest?
- Are there any complications?
- What’s my mental attitude like?
- And so much more.
Many questions, results, and breakthroughs only emerge *during* rehab.
For me, the first 10–14 days post-surgery were really tough.
Accepting that summer was basically over felt like a sentence – as if I had to serve time in a hospital like some criminal.
Thank God we are creatures of habit. We adapt over time.
The most important thing is to truly reflect on yourself and, besides the official rehab plan, try to stay fit.
I firmly believe that a body in motion triggers repair processes better than just lying around doing nothing.
Gopferdelli – you just have to stay on it and push forward, no matter how unmotivated you are today.
My physiotherapists are happy with my strength and muscle levels.
As of today (Saturday of week 11), I’ve been cleared to switch to regular shoes starting Monday – about a week ahead of schedule.
Another factor that really helped me through this rehab journey is what’s known as secondary gain from illness – which I kind of redefined and used to my own advantage.
*What is secondary gain (question to ChatGPT)?*
Secondary gain describes unconscious external benefits from an illness – like receiving attention, sympathy, relief from responsibilities, or extra support.
If these consequences feel rewarding, it can subconsciously prolong being unwell, which makes therapy and recovery harder.
My version:
At the lowest emotional point, I decided to make the best of it.
As soon as I was able to sit at the computer for a few hours without swelling getting in the way, I used the time to build this blog.
That allowed me to level up my skills in building websites and blogs, get a lot off my chest by writing, and research deeply what exactly was going on in my body and what kind of impact this damn rupture would have on my life.
So luckily, I managed to pull a few positive aspects out of this misery –
to the point that today I can actually say:
It was kind of an awesome experience.
Of course I wouldn’t want to go through it again –
but I can honestly say that this self-manipulation helped me a lot.
One of my physiotherapists even asked how I already knew certain terms (keyword: *cross education*) by week 3.
You dive into a world of physiotherapists and medical professionals.
For me personally, this world of Achilles tendon rupture was
a) super fascinating, and
b) helped ease a lot of fears and worries,
because I knew exactly what the next steps were
– and why step a → b → c was done the way it was.