Brief Intro: I ruptured my achilles a couple years ago. I never had surgery. The achilles took every bit of six months to return to to a state where I could "push off" without any pain. As I gradually became more active with cardio (running, sprints, etc.), I noticed that the injured achilles would get and stay tight... no surprise.
I used to mess with the foam rollers (sans spikes) at my gym and didn't think they were that good. After seeing something on Danger and Play about an almost-metal looking foam roller at the Gold's Gym, I went to big box hardware store and purchased a 2 (maybe 3) foot piece of thick PVC pipe. I still have it, still use it, and it's helped me tremendously (along with lacrosse ball smashing).
^ Two foot thick PVC pipe should do you just fine. "Foam" rolling with the PVC pipe can hurt, but that means it's working. It also should be way less expensive than the spiked foam rollers.
I used to mess with the foam rollers (sans spikes) at my gym and didn't think they were that good. After seeing something on Danger and Play about an almost-metal looking foam roller at the Gold's Gym, I went to big box hardware store and purchased a 2 (maybe 3) foot piece of thick PVC pipe. I still have it, still use it, and it's helped me tremendously (along with lacrosse ball smashing).
^ Two foot thick PVC pipe should do you just fine. "Foam" rolling with the PVC pipe can hurt, but that means it's working. It also should be way less expensive than the spiked foam rollers.