It's the old adage - use it or lose it! When I nursed years ago one of the things that we did for all bed bound patients who were still mobile was passive range of motion. This was an important part of care because as you well know - if you lay all day in a bed for long periods - or even sit all day in a chair (as most of us do post rads and chemo because we feel super crappy) - you use the your muscles very little. (leg in particular - but arms, back etc... As well). Now I am not sure how long after surgery and treatment every one here started trying trying to be active, but the sooner the better. I started physio 3 weeks out of rads... And lymphatic massage and acupuncture (to drain the build up of lymph fluid and promote circulation to my jaw and neck) - approximately 6 weeks after treatment. It wasn't fun, but in my opinion the longer you wait - the more time any post operative - post treatment issues (muscle atrophy - tendon shortening - etc..) has to set in - and unfortunately become permanent -. Some stuff - because of surgery - you can't control. The hammer toe is one thing that sounds like it was going to happen regardless - but the body has an amazing way of compensating for damage done to it - the sooner you start training it the better - to maintain and regain mobility. I know that some days you just want to be a giant eggplant and veg... But that should be a reward.. Walk the dog, massage and flex your legs, do one excercise - then be a veg. Medicine is very focused on fix, and cure, with very little thought to - after?! Unfortunately not being medical professionals - most people don't know that there are things you can do to minimized the post treatment issues. I have been blessed. I have pretty much full range of motion in my neck and left arm now, I still have numbness in my neck and ear that likely will never go away. I walk around doing pufferfish exercises and stretching my neck, mouth, tongue and cheeks frequently throughout the day. I look like a fool, but I've been doing this throughout treatment from the beginning and believe me here were days it HURT however I have maximum tongue mobility - partly due to an awesome surgical team, but also because I worked at it. I can now curl my tongue so that the tip can touch the back 2/3 of my palate - and I'm missing 2/3 -1/2 of it - my other side has learned to compensate and carry the dead weight of the new side. Now my surgery was minor compared to the fibula/mandible reconstruction - i know- but the same thing holds true - though on a larger scale - use it or lose it - even if its just to hobble around a bit, or do passive flexion etc.. So to reinforce tetra you totally did the right thing, working at it as soon as able. Good luck on the tendon surgery!