I have a hand injury that is over 2 years old.
The fingers and hand were slowly pulled on (horse related) and there was no pain as injury was happening.
Next day hand swelled, stiff fingers.
It is now 2 1/2 years later.
Tendon pulls and tears in microscopic things take a very long time to mend.
Doctor was no help.
It is slowly improving.
I had to hold my hand high, elevate while sleeping etc.
Was very painful.
Is now to point of being stiff fingers but not bad.
Tendons are a long term healing process.
I did if course REST the injury.
It concerns me that your doctor said to do so much on an injured limb.
Sounds like a bad idea to me.
When I asked about activity he said not to wear the ortho boot inside the house because it restricted movement too much and the foot/ankle needed to move for the ligaments and tendons to heal properly. I asked about riding the bike and he said the stationary bike would be best and they they actually recommend low intensity riding to work the damaged areas and promote healing. He made sure to tell me not to do anything that causes pain. I asked about the real bike and he kind of looked at me for a minute and said that when the foot feels strong enough, that it would be OK as long as there was not chance of me crashing and injuring the foot. Since I ride off-road in the mountains it will be a while on that. He made sure I knew that I needed to use the foot but don’t fall again. That’s why he wants me to wear the ortho boot outside on uneven ground for a long time. I’m on a farm and we don’t have manicured lawns. :-)