Achilles Tendon Rupture - Surgery or Not

[wannabeskibum]

While enjoying a fabulous week at Breckenridge last week, I hit a buried tree stump while in the glades and ruptured my achilles tendon. At first I thought it was a bad calf strain and skied out of the woods and down the mountain and iced and elevated. Went skiing the next 2 days as the boot was giving me lots of support and there wasn't much discomfort. After getting home and as the swelling subsided, I could see that there was a depression in the back of my leg where the achilles tendon should be. Went to the local sports medicine orthopedist who confirmed the rupture and then proceeded to tell me that I should consider non-surgical rehabilation as a treatment option. Non-surgical rehab involves immobilizing the foot using a brace and a heal lift to bring the ends of the tendon close together and then allowing scar tissue to develop and join the ends of the tendon followed by the usual rehab that occurs with surgical repair.

Lots of literature on the Internet about surgerical repair vs. non-surgery rehab - most of the high quality research suggests that there is little difference in the re-rupture rate and the overall rehab time whether surgical or non-surgical is about the same.

Seeing a foot and ankle orthopod on Thursday to get second opinion.

Question for the zoners - have you had an achilles rupture that you did not get repaired surgically and how was your recovery?

Thanks in advance!

[Bubba]

I totally ruptured my right Achilles playing basketball in June 1997. It was surgically reattached within the week, was in a cast for 10 days and in a boot for 6 to 7 weeks after. With rehab, I was skiing before Christmas. I've never heard of nonsurgical repair of a total rupture so can't comment further. Is yours totally severed or only partial?

[Guy in Shorts]

Total bummer. Heal quick. Damn pesky tendons.

[ejrides]

I had a full rupture in 2007 and was given similar options, but at that time the risk of re-injury I found was much higher for an active person (but about the same for others) - that may be something you want to research and think about. I went with the surgery. If you really want to have fun, find a video of the surgery on youtube :)
Good luck, and stick with the rehab!

[f.a.s.t.]

While enjoying a fabulous week at Breckenridge last week, I hit a buried tree stump while in the glades and ruptured my achilles tendon. At first I thought it was a bad calf strain and skied out of the woods and down the mountain and iced and elevated. Went skiing the next 2 days as the boot was giving me lots of support and there wasn't much discomfort. After getting home and as the swelling subsided, I could see that there was a depression in the back of my leg where the achilles tendon should be. Went to the local sports medicine orthopedist who confirmed the rupture and then proceeded to tell me that I should consider non-surgical rehabilation as a treatment option. Non-surgical rehab involves immobilizing the foot using a brace and a heal lift to bring the ends of the tendon close together and then allowing scar tissue to develop and join the ends of the tendon followed by the usual rehab that occurs with surgical repair.

Lots of literature on the Internet about surgerical repair vs. non-surgery rehab - most of the high quality research suggests that there is little difference in the re-rupture rate and the overall rehab time whether surgical or non-surgical is about the same.

Seeing a foot and ankle orthopod on Thursday to get second opinion.

Question for the zoners - have you had an achilles rupture that you did not get repaired surgically and how was your recovery?

Thanks in advance!

Like Bubba, I partially tore my achilles long ago playing basketball. No surgery, just therapy. After a few months I was pretty much back to all activity, although I think it was over a year before I was completely recovered to the point where there was nothing to worry about.

It was the last organized basketball game I ever played in. I went out on a good play, jumped up and blocked a shot and tore the Achilles when I landed-on one foot I was able to somehow come up with the loose ball and threw a perfect pass over half court to a breaking guard who layed it in for two points.

[spanky]

Bummer. If you go non-surgical, definitely investigate stem cell transplant(s).

[wannabeskibum]

Got a second opinion today from an avid skier / foot & ankle guy - we spent 10 minutes talking about skiing, TGR, and pugski.com before he said let's take a look at your ankle -

To make a long story short - he is doing the surgery on Tuesday.

Thanks for your responses!

Mark

[ejrides]

Got a second opinion today from an avid skier / foot & ankle guy - we spent 10 minutes talking about skiing, TGR, and pugski.com before he said let's take a look at your ankle -

To make a long story short - he is doing the surgery on Tuesday.

Thanks for your responses!

Mark

Good luck! The recovery is long, but it works.