Achillies Tendinitis / Rupture

Achilles tendon ruptures generally occur while performing activities that require sudden changes in direction or jumping and landing.

Symptoms:
Patients usually describe a sharp pain in the back of their leg as if they were “kicked or hit in the back of the leg with a tennis serve.” Patients will have some swelling in the heel region and if they can walk, it is usually quite painful.

Diagnosis:
Acute Achilles tendon rupture is made through clinical examination after x-ray rules out fracture. A qualified orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeon will also perform in office tests to diagnosis acute Achilles tendon rupture.

Treatment:
Achilles tendon ruptures can be treated non-operatively or operatively. Non-operative treatment often consists of immobilization, initially in a cast with the foot pointed. The cast is changed periodically and the foot slow dorsiflexed a bit more as each cast is applied. Through most of this process usually taking up to 3 months the patient is non-weight bearing. Operative treatment involves making an incision and suturing together the torn tendon a long with doing a tendon transfer. This enables the patient to weight bear two weeks after surgery and minimizes the potential for future rupture.

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