Achilles Help

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Get ready to spend a whole lot of time lying around resting and recuperating. Having the right supplies and necessities will help set you up for success.

FOR RESTING:

You’ll want a leg elevation pillow. Propping up your leg on a pillow or two just won’t cut it as I found it was uncomfortable, and my leg moved around too much. This elevation pillow one of the most helpful and most used purchases during my Achilles tendon repair recovery. I used it nearly 24/7 in the first two weeks and for months longer at night during my recovery.

FOR SHOWERING:

Are you a shower person? I’m a devoted nightly showerer and it pained me to not be able to take one until about a week after surgery, mostly because I didn’t have the right supplies. Your set up will largely depend on the layout of your bathroom. I didn’t use my bathroom for months after surgery. It felt scary with the glass doors, I couldn’t find a physical way to get myself into the shower to sit down and didn’t have the room to maneuver around. Instead, I used a second bathroom that has a bathtub with a shower curtain.

This shower bench was what allowed me to take my coveted nightly showers because I didn’t have to “enter” the shower. I could sit down and scooch into the shower. Gamechanger. While still in a hard cast, I used this boot protector (note – I tried several sized boot protectors until settling on this one due to comfort with pulling the protector up over my boot).

Once the hard cast came off, I still used the shower bench for months since you cannot be full weight bearing (FWB) without your boot for quite a while.

FOR GETTING AROUND:

This is probably a personal preference and also based on what your doctor says. I hated the crutches so much that I bought a scooter. This was a game changer for my comfort level getting around. I used the scooter every time I went to the bathroom and the few times I left my house during the non-weight bearing (NWB) stage.

FOR COMFORT:

I set up in my bedroom with easy access to a bathroom and essentially didn’t leave that area for two weeks. You’ll want a water bottle, your meds as prescribed by your doctor, snacks, books and entertainment, and any other comfort items near you. Get your rest station set up prior to surgery and you can adjust as needed.