week 1 · last reviewed 2026-06-08
Achilles surgery recovery: week 1
Clinical procedure: Achilles tendon repair.
Typical, evidence-anchored estimate only. It is not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.
what's typical at week 1
typical pain · week 1
Around week 1, the typical pain band sits at 2/10 (range 0.7–3). This week was measured directly in the cited cohort.
weeks 0–2
Weeks 0-2 · boot, heel wedges, early weight-bearing
Most modern protocols use a CAM boot with heel wedges from day one, with immediate partial-to-full weight-bearing under accelerated protocols. Older protocols used a cast for the first two weeks; this is increasingly uncommon.
Pain in this window is measured rather than interpolated. The PMC12255024 cohort reported immediate post-op VAS of 2.4/10 (minimally invasive arms) to 4.8/10 (open repair). By the end of week one the mean had fallen to about 2/10 (range 0.7-3/10). By week two the mean was about 1.8/10 with a wider range driven by the no-immobilization subgroup.
Sleep is the dominant complaint of the first week — the boot is uncomfortable for sleep and most people lose two to three weeks of sleep quality before adjusting.
documented at this week
This week
Weight goes on early, in the boot
Accelerated protocols start partial-to-full weight bearing in a CAM boot with heel wedges from day 0 to week 2 — early load is part of the plan, not a risk being taken.
milestones around now
- wk 0 ·Weight-bearing in boot with heel wedges (Day 0-2 weeks; immediate partial-to-full weight-bearing in a CAM boot under accelerated protocols)
- wk 5 ·Full weight-bearing in boot (About 4-6 weeks in a CAM boot, protocol-dependent)
sources
What this page is built from
- Open vs minimally invasive Achilles repair, stratified by immobilization duration prospective cohort · reliability 8/10
- Immobilisation duration after open Achilles repair (prospective cohort, n=1088) prospective cohort · reliability 8/10
- Return to play after Achilles rupture: systematic review and meta-analysis (108 studies) meta-analysis · reliability 8.5/10
Track your own week-by-week so a flare doesn't erase the months behind it.
Start a recovery logThis is a typical, evidence-anchored reading of achilles surgery recovery at week 1 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.