Surgery on extensor hallucis longus - recovery and exercises

[poorlyfoot]

Hello,

I would be very grateful for some advice if anyone here would be willing to help.

10 days ago I had surgery to reattach the ends of my EHL tendon which had been severed in an accident.

My foot is now in one of these Aircast which I was told to wear for two months and I've been given crutches to use.

I'm currently living in cambodia where the standard of hospitals isnt so great, so I went to Bangkok for this surgery. I'm now back in Cambodia and reluctant to go back to the hospital if i can avoid it.

The physio there gave me different advice to the surgeon, and i tried to clarify this, but what with the painkillers and language issues, maybe I didnt really try hard enough.

Basically, the surgeon said to put no weight on my foot at all for 2 months, after which i can stop wearing the cast.
On the othehand, the physio said i could start to put some weight on it whilst using my crutches if it didnt hurt.

So, my first question is - if i keep putting weight on this foot am i likely to damage the tendon? I have a few times accidently put weight on this foot and it doesnt hurt.

Also the physio suggested a couple of exercises for me to do in the first few days. Firstly, whilst my leg is straight out in front of me to flatten my knee as much as possible, hold and release. Secondly to wiggle the toes which were unaffected.

I'm guessing that as time goes on I should probably be doing other things to maintain the strength in my leg. Any advice would be great about exercises i could be doing now while i have the cast on and then later when I take it off.

Also, after I take the brace/cast off, how long is it sensible to wait before doing things like cycling, swimming, running etc?

Thanks in advance for any replies. I know in an ideal world it would be better for me to go back to the hospital and speak with them but it feels like a lot of effort for what might not be a very satisfactory trip...

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[poorlyfoot]

New question...

When I went to see the doctor and get the stitches taken out, she said that there is a French physio here I can go to, although she said she doesn't know whether I would need someone who is a specialist, and whether he would have the right background to treat me.

Would I really need a specialist for this? Or would any western qualified physiotherapist be able to give me the advice i need?

Thanks