My One-Year Snapiversary

Oh, what a difference a year makes. 12 months ago, I was laid up on the couch in a cast. Today, I have 365 days worth of recovery stories. This is my end-of-year recap.

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One year ago, I was enjoying my Sunday Funday at the gym and suffered my second calamitous injury there. My right Achilles tendon decided to completely rupture on a round-off back handspring landing.

From the moment my Achilles snapped, time seemed to move at a snail’s pace. While progress was always forward, it was one centimeter at a time. I kept reminding myself, baby steps is what is necessary to heal.

It wasn’t a good emotional moment for me, but I knew I had to lean on them in order to get back on my feet. In the literal sense.

The phrase that was stuck in my brain from the doctors, the physical therapist, the Achilles recovery protocols and community was: 

Six to nine months, maybe twelve. 

In the beginning, that phrase haunted me. I couldn’t imagine it taking that long to get back to my life. There was so much pain, so much struggle. If I wasn’t so damned stubborn, I might have decided to give up all of the movement activity that gave me so much joy for so long. 

What kept me looking forward were two main things. Gymnastics was such an ingrained part of my identity. Giving that up seemed like a non-starter. Also, I was in the last couple of years of my career as a dance teacher. I was so close to retiring with a full pension. Giving up would have major financial repercussions in the future.

No. Giving up would not be a part of the equation. In my mind, the only choice was to rehabilitate and make a full recovery. Or, at least, as full as my aging tendons would allow. I would endure the pain and the slow slog that recovery required. I would research and learn as much as I possibly could so I’d make the best decisions and heal.

The first six months

From December 2024 through June 2025, I documented everything about my recovery. I even created a personal timeline to share with others victims of “the snap.” The doctor visits, physical therapy, my gym progress, my emotional life: everything.

June was the six-month mark, the first threshold in the “six to twelve” month mark. Lo and behold, I had made some significant headway towards “normal life.” I was walking mostly normally (without a painful limp). Many of the gym skills had been recovered, save for back tumbling on the TumblTrak, which continued to give me a mental challenge. Single heel raises were also lagging, as my calf was still at fledgling strength.

But in the first six months, my body followed an accelerated recovery timeline. At least, that’s what my physical therapist kept saying. Doing my exercises every day made that happen. I learned a lot about recovering from a big injury that required surgery to fix.

The most salient lesson: you get out of your recovery what you put into it.

The caveat: Achilles recovery is really painful and doing the work exacerbated the pain. Unfortunately, in order for tendons to heal, you have to progressively and consistently challenge them. Pain was just a natural part of that challenge.

Knowing how hard to push was tricky. The obvious fear was pushing too much and risking re-rupture. That would have been catastrophic. But not doing enough could limit my long-term recovery options. I knew that every day was another opportunity to bolster my future capacity for success.

So, I listened to my gut. If it felt safe, I’d push in. If not, I’d stop. I treated each new challenge like I was dipping my toes into a pool with a deep end. As I felt comfortable, I’d go a little deeper. I gave my body and brain a chance to adjust to the new stimulus.

Once the daily pain of the injury was gone, I used this toe-dip method to bring back the skills I once had. I started on the trampoline, the softest and most rebounding surface in the gym. That helped me slowly develop strength through a greater range of motion.

At six months, there were a few challenges that I was dealing with.

1. Harder landings on the springboard and floor. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be ready to slam my feet in any way.
2. Unassisted single leg calf raises. My right calf muscle was less than half the size of my left. I had lost so much strength and building it back was proving to be really difficult.
3. Back tumbling on the TumblTrak. This is where both of my big injuries happened. (This is the beginning of my broken foot saga.) I don’t know if my Lizard Brain will ever let me get back to that. I guess time will tell.

Progress at one year

Before I go into all the great progress that’s happening, I should talk about the reality of Achilles injury at one year.

Depending on the day and my activity, sometimes just waking up still brings me plenty of aches and pains in both my ankles. I am always concerned about my uninjured tendon, because sometimes I have more soreness there than the recovering one. It gets tight from overuse, compensation, and even just regular day to day movement. Working as a dance teacher for beginner students means I have to demonstrate skills over and over. By the end of the day, my Achilles are spent.

In addition, I’m also still dealing with irritation in my peroneal tendons on the injured side, which are along the outside of the ankle. I think they get inflamed after a lot of movement demands. Sometimes they’re fine, other times, just taking a step produces a sharp pain that reminds me that the joint is not as strong as it once was. I think that they have been overcompensating since my calf complex is still not as developed on my injured side. One problem leads to another…

Also, it’s December and it’s really cold. And I’m 54. That doesn’t help matters. Everything is stiff all the time.

So, I strengthen and stretch the soft tissue with Therabands, wiggle the ankle in all directions often, and do all forms of heel raises (single and double). Before I start pounding my feet at the gym, I make sure I go through a gradual warm-up period on every surface I use. That way, the tendon has some time to remember what it needs to do and respond appropriately.

Most of the time, a good night’s sleep helps many of the issues calm down a bit. Then again, after seven hours of not moving, the tissues are super tight when I wake up. It’s really an uphill battle to maintain my ankles, but there’s so much I want to do with them. In the end, I just have to do the daily work and keep monitoring and respond to the feedback I get from my body. In doing so, I have been able to achieve some pretty great things for a 54-year-old Geriatric Gymnast.

Skill progress in the second half of the year

There were two drills I focused on in the second half of the year: box jumps and snap-downs. These started to put much more demand on my Achilles. The goal was to start preparing my foot and ankle for the stress of the springboard and perhaps, back tucks on the TumblTrak. Over time, I could feel the strength building.

In June, I started bringing back the springboard work. I wrapped my ankle with athletic tape to limit dorsiflexion and eased into dive rolls. In July, I tested the front tuck. By November, I was churning out the numbers.

While I had done a few back tucks on the TumblTrak around 7 months, I have been really reticent to continue back tumbling there. Too much fear is ingrained by Mr. Lizard. I know I’m capable of doing the skill. But one bad landing will mentally crush me. I’m not sure I’m prepared to go through that all over again.

Perhaps one good thing about this Achilles recovery is that I’ve had more time to improve my upper body strength. Between my handstand work and bars skills, I’ve enjoyed some good progress there. I’ve even developed a decent XCel Silver combination. If I ever decide to do an adult competition (no promises), I actually have something to compete.

Moving into recovery year two

I believe this recovery will be a forever work-in-progress. But really, isn’t every challenge a work-in-progress? I don’t take the protective nature of Mr. Lizard for granted.

But, I believe there is still a lot I can learn. Maybe new skill acquisitions will take a long time, but I don’t mind inching forward. My ultimate goal is to stay safe and build strength. That’s the win. I’m keeping my mind open and look for new things to learn all the time. Who knows where I’ll be a year from now? The best part is the journey.

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You can catch more of my gym progress videos on YouTube at The Geriatric Gymnast.