You Asked For It....

Here are some pics of the new brace I am now wearing that was built buy Gus. It was molded according to a mold taken of my foot and leg and is quite a bit lighter than the old hi-tech mukluk I had to wear for a few weeks.

As you can see, it has a full, solid, inflexible sole plate, it comes up over my heel and on op my leg to the top of my calf. At the ankle there is a cutout above the heel and there is a hinge mechanism at the ankle. In front of the hinge there are "stops". This all allows my foot to bend down, but it cannot bend up, thereby protecting y achilles tendon from excessive strain. Gus also put some orthotics and other padding on the inside for me. Finally, the whole rig fits inside my regular running shoe.

When we are ready to let the tendon stretch a bit more, Gus can trim the "stops" or even the brace structure itself to allow more range of motion. In fact, last Friday we just opened it up a few more degrees. so I am now working that tendon just a little bit more. Also, if the thing starts wearing differently (which happens as my foot shape shifts or swelling changes, or....) Gus can adjust the shape, contours, and padding in the brace to make as comfortable as possible. Yes, Gus is a genius!

All-in-all progress is being made, although it is not nearly as rapid as before and I'm certainly not back to where I was a little over a month ago and I won't be for a while, if ever.