The steady way back, on a tendon that sets the pace.

No. Rebound is a fitness program with walk/run sessions and strength work that adapt to what you report. It doesn't diagnose or treat injuries, and it doesn't replace your physical therapist or doctor. If you report a warning sign, Rebound pauses your plan and points you to a professional.

Yes. For a tendinopathy you confirm at intake that a physical therapist, physician or other qualified professional has cleared you to return to running, and you must be 18 or older. After a surgically repaired rupture the bar is higher: at least 16 weeks since the repair (the earliest possible start, not a sign of readiness), your surgeon's or physical therapist's clearance to begin running, and a short readiness checklist you confirm yourself. Either way, once you start you'll tell us how you feel before each run and after every session, and we'll pause your plan if you report sharp pain, swelling, a knee or ankle giving way, night pain, or pain that keeps building.

Yes, and the intake asks. Pain in the tendon itself, a few centimetres above the heel bone, is midportion pain; pain at the heel bone, where the tendon attaches, is insertional. The research the pain rules rest on studied midportion cases and excluded insertional ones, so only midportion pain that stays mild and settles by morning can earn the next stage; insertional pain, or an unsure answer, holds on it and steps up on clean runs. The calf work follows the answer too: insertional and unsure keep every calf exercise at floor range, with the heel never dropping below a step.

Not before 16 weeks after the repair, and that is a floor, not a target. Published return-to-running protocols range from about 16 to 24 weeks, with function deciding, so the intake also asks for your surgeon's or physical therapist's clearance to begin running, and for you to confirm six readiness items: no pain in daily life or rehab, walking without a limp, tiptoe walking, ten single-leg heel rises, single-leg balance, and feeling confident to run. The items come from expert consensus and are a conservative gate, not a validated test. An unmet item means the program isn't the right start yet, and nothing is saved. Once a plan is built, the stricter pain rules apply throughout.

Not yet. A rupture treated without surgery, and Achilles operations other than a rupture repair, follow timelines your care team sets, and the program has no rules for them. The intake says so plainly and saves nothing. If your care team points you to a graded walk/run build once you're cleared, come back then.

The morning check-in asks about pain, not stiffness, and judges it against how the tendon felt before yesterday's run. A stiff first few steps that loosen quickly is common with this tendon and isn't a reading on its own; pain that is back at or below where the run started is a settled response. If the morning pain is higher than before the run, the plan holds or steps back.

Before each run, after each session and the next morning you're asked one question first: any joint, bone or tendon pain, even mild? No is a 0. Yes asks how much, 0 to 10, and where. The rules in How it adapts above decide: 0 to 2 continues; 3 to 5 at your injured Achilles holds until the next morning's check and settles if the morning is back at or below where the run started; above 5 steps back at once; a 6 or more before a run or the next morning, sharp pain, swelling, a knee or ankle giving way, night pain, or pain that keeps building pause the plan. The 3 to 5 allowance belongs to the place you named at intake: your injured knee, or your injured Achilles. Pain of 3 to 5 anywhere else, on the other side, or on the stricter paths (IT band, an unspecified knee, a repaired Achilles rupture, or no injury) steps back right away and settles only at 2 or less. Muscle soreness in your thighs or calves doesn't count. AI never makes these calls.

Nothing bad happens: no pause, no step back. The check-in is open on the day after the run only, and a morning nobody answered is simply unknown, so that run doesn't count as one of the two clean runs you need to step up. The next pre-run check asks how you feel and decides whether that day's run opens.

Possibly, when a provider recommends Rebound for recovery from your injury and your HSA or FSA administrator approves it. Rebound offers two Letter of Medical Necessity templates for this path: one for a surgically repaired Achilles rupture, and one for Achilles tendinopathy that names the condition as you reported it at intake, for your provider to confirm. Your provider must review and sign the template if they agree, and the administrator makes the final call. A letter does not guarantee reimbursement.

For now, yes. Bring the letter to a doctor, physical therapist, or other licensed provider you already see. If you don't have one, we're working on a way for an independent clinician to review and sign it, and we'll update this page when that's ready.

You graduate once you can run 30 minutes straight at a comfortable pace. Some people stop there. Others move on to Rebound Training, a monthly membership that builds you toward your next goal, from a 5k up to a marathon. It still asks about pain and can ease your plan when needed.

Yes. You can cancel from the settings page in the app. If you cancel during your free week, you won't be charged.

Yes. Your plan, session logs, and notes are locked to your account, so no other user can see them, and we don't sell your information. Card payments are handled by Stripe, so your card number never touches our servers. We use Claude, an AI model from Anthropic, to personalize and explain your plan and structure free-text notes and plan-change requests. For that it receives your plan answers, the effort and pain numbers you log, and what you write. We never attach your name, email address or any account identifier to a language-model request. Anthropic doesn't use this information to train its models. You can delete your training data anytime from settings, and the full details are in our Privacy Policy.

Rebound Running LLC, based in Texas. You can reach us at ethan@reboundrunning.com.