Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm gonna show you some stretches and exercises
for achilles tendon rupture. Let's get started.
With an achilles tendon rupture, sometimes
you're gonna need surgery anyways, depending on how sever it is, but you can do the exercises
before and after to help you with your recovery. The stronger you can be before your surgery,
if you're gonna have to have it, the better your recovery is gonna be afterwards. So the
first stretch is gonna be a calf stretch. You can stretch the calf in a whole bunch
of different ways, today I'm gonna show you one with a strap. You can use a strap, you
can use a belt, you can use a dog leash, those are really nice cause they have loops in them.
Or you can use a big towel. It's really called a towel stretch, so that's usually the thing
people use the most. What you want to do is wrap it around the ball of your foot. You
don't want it to be too low, and you don't want it to be on your toes cause it might
slip off and hit you. So just wrapping it around the ball of your foot there, relax
your ankle, try not to move it actively. You're just gonna move it with the strap. So relax
it, and then pull towards you until you feel that stretch underneath there. Now remember,
if you have a rupture, or if you have a strain in that achilles tendon, it's gonna be pretty
sore. You don't want to push through the pain, you just want to pull it until you kind of
feel that a little bit of pain and you're like 'if I went more, it would hurt a lot.'
And just hold it there for about 30 seconds, and relax it. And do that 3 times. So a nice
big pull. Try and keep your knee straight, try not to bend it, keep it nice and straight.
And again you're gonna feel it underneath there. You're gonna feel it in that achilles
tendon area, holding it for 30 seconds. Alright, the next ones are gonna be standing up. So
the next ones are gonna be something where you want something sturdy like a chair or
a counter top so you have something to balance on. It's gonna be another calf stretch. This
time you're gonna put your foot back behind you. Keep your foot straight, don't turn it
out. Keep it straight. And keep your back heel down. The back leg is gonna stay straight
for the calf stretch, and you can bend your front one forward like this. Until again you
feel a stretch back through there. So coming forward. Hold that stretch for about 30 seconds.
Come back up. And do that 3 times. Just coming forward as far as you comfortably can. Not
pushing through pain, just getting a good comfortable stretch. The next stretch is gonna
be a soleus stretch. And that is the muscle that's underneath the calf muscle there. So
this time you're gonna bend the knee. Still keeping that foot straight, still keeping
the back heel down, but this time bend your knee. So it feels a little awkward with this
one. You can bend both knees and then come forward. And a lot of times you'll feel the
stretch there, sometimes people fell a little bit in the front cause you're bending at your
ankle a little bit more, but keeping that knee bent, keeping that heel down, holding
it for about 30 seconds, and then coming back up. Do 3 of those. Bending that knee coming
forward. Now we're gonna do some exercises to get it moving a little bit. So this one
is just gonna be a simple heel raise. Put your feet about shoulder width apart. Hold
on to something sturdy if you need it. And then just bring those heels up off the ground.
Now the important part of this one is slowly come back down. Use that control cause that's
really gonna work that achilles area, that calf area, not just letting gravity bring
you back down but coming up and really controlling it coming back down, nice and slow. Start
off with just about 10 of these, even if you're not feeling sore at the time. Let you're body
kind of recover and then the next day if it feels fine, then you can start working up
from there. And then the last one is just a balance series. So this time, just standing
on one foot. If you need to hold on a little bit, you can. Start off with both hands. Start
with maybe 15 - 20 seconds of balancing. If you can do that, then just hold on with a
finger or two. And then if you can do that, maybe just one finger. And then once you build
up to it, then just try balancing without holding on. Start off with 10 - 15 seconds,
and work your way up to 30 seconds to a minute. And there you have it. Those are your stretches
and exercises for Achilles tendon rupture. If you have any questions, leave them in the
comments section. If you'd like to check out some other videos, go to AskDoctorJo.com Don't
forget to like us. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.