Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Achilles tendon tear

I tore my Achilles tendon three weeks back. I am frustrated at the pace of recovery and am trying to assess how long it may take to get back to normal, which is logging an average of about 8 miles a day. I searched the message board and found frequent references to Achilles tendon problems, but no one place that polls sufferers as to the course of recovery. Can people who are familiar with the problem please update the thread with information on the course of recovery?

turang
First of all what grade tear was it? Ligament and tendon tears are graded 1-3 with a 1 being a partial minor tear and a 3 being a complete tear all the way through the tendon.3's require surgical repair.
2nd how old are you? Age is a huge factor in healing.
3rd what kind of treatment if any are you getting?
There is no real answer to how long an achilles injury will take to heal because everyone is unique and the factors in an injury is unique for that injury.Tendons heal slowly in general because of the lack of blood supply to the tendon which is thick connective tissue. There is less vascular supply to tendons than the muscles they anchor into the bone.
One thing is for sure you will have to be patient and allow for a complete recovery or you may cause irreparable damage.
Bummer of an injury though.Get as much PT as you can. Bioflavinoids,bromelian(pinapple extract) and papain(papaya extract) protolytic enzymes are natural anti-imflamatory products and can acclerated healing especially with musculo-tendonous tears. Make sure you have no allergies to pineapple or papaya.
Lots of ice and try to avoid NSAIDS (Non Steroidal Anti-inflamatories drugs like ibuprofen(advil) and naproxen (alleve)if possible.They are anti-prostaglandins meds that are hard on stomach,kidneys,liver and actually slow the healing of soft tissue injuries.

Be very patient. I had a back injury in 2008 and it took a year to heal completely.

ranges from months, to over a year

The older you are the less likely it will recover completly. Achilles tears are well known for being slow to heal.
I know three people with tears who had surgery and two of them still have pain and reduced movement 5 years later.

Been there, done that. Back in 1985, I was playing volleyball, jumped up to set the ball to the front row and when I came down, my right Achilles' tendon let go. Complete tear, required surgery. 6 weeks in a cast, 4 more weeks on crutches, the balance of six months on shoes with built-up heels (to take the stress off the tendon). I was 35 at the time.

A year later, I could finally stand barefoot in relative comfort.

Any time in the first five years, I would feel it the day after walking in sand or doing something like tilling my garden where my feet would sink in and my heels would end up lower than my toes.

I would say you never completely recover. Now, 25 years later, approaching 60 (yikes!), I hike and climb but still avoid running and jumping. (The surgeon's comment was, "Don't do this again. I can't fix it a second time.") My right leg still feels "different" from my (uninjured) left leg. However, the biggest problem with hiking and backpacking is that the repair scar and repaired tendon are bulky and I have to be careful about socks and boot fit or I end up wearing raw spots on the back of my ankle where the scar is. That aside, I don't let it bother me, although I'm not planning on any marathons.

I haven't let it stop me...did 70 miles with my son out at Philmont in '05 and 100 miles with him the second time in '07. Next thing to go will be my knees...left one is getting a little gimpy and I wear an elastic brace on it now to keep the kneecap centered and take some stress off when backpacking. Getting old is heck, until you consider the alternative...

As they say on the 'net, your mileage may vary...a lot, depending on how severe the injury was and how well your body deals with recovery.

I had a very minor injury to the Achilles from cycling. I tried "taking it easy" but it kept setting me back. I finally had to completely stop cycling for about 6 months before the injury healed. I have not since had any symptoms and it's been 3 years, but like I said, it took a long time to heal.

Here are two Achilles stories to add to the growing list:

I developed a bone spur where my tendon attaches to my heel. It hurt more and more when I ran. (I was doing a marathon about every 6 weeks at the time.) I went through the usual rest, naproxen, and therapy with no relief. They eventually cut it open, partially detached the tendon, ground off the bone spur, and screwed it back together. I was back at work (on crutches) the next day. I was running again in about 9 weeks, and worked my way back up to 6 miles. Then it slowly got worse again. Turns out the bone spur grew back! I can bike all I want, I have moderate issues hiking (but not technical climbing), and I only dare run a mile or two every few months. I'm 61.

I have a friend who severed his Achilles tendon in the early 90s. He was being clumsy dragging a sharp-edged power washer around. They sewed him up and put him in a cast for several months. After a very long, painful recovery, he is just about 100%. He usually wins the athlete of the year award at the local corporate challenge events. He's pushing 60.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Here is a description of my situation to add to the data set.

The tear happened at home, when an expected small step into our family room was not where I thought it was and my heel went down so that my ankle made what must have been a very acute angle with my leg. The tendon stretched. Going according to "The Universal Law of Cussedness", this happened on Saturday morning so that the earliest I could see a foot doctor was Monday morning.

The pain was bad and I felt it when I was still and not doing anything. I treated it with ibuprofen which did not help. Acetaminophen did help me to get some sleep. I iced as much as possible.

I saw my foot doctor on Monday who diagnosed it to be a tear of some fibers in the tendon and advised rest for a week. He offered prescription anti-inflammatory medicine that I did not take. After a week, I was recommended 9 sessions of physical therapy. I am in the middle of them now. The acute pain subsided fast, but walking still causes a pain in the effected heel. The physical therapist thinks it would be about a month before it goes away.

So, looks like what I had was relatively minor compared to some of the things described here. I am planning to take it easy and go slow in ramping up to my usual routine, which I miss.

I suffered an overuse injury of the achilles which, I assume, is no where near the severity of a tear. I am a 3-4 day a week runner and during the 2008 holidays the fam. traveled, we ate, I gained, ran less, came back to San Diego, and took off on my favorite trails/hills. Two weeks later my achilles was aching something fierce. Did as much reading as I could of runners' boards and determined it was tendinosis, not tendonitis, an overuse injury. I tried to cut back on my running (only 3 miles a run). No use. Same pain. Advice I gathered everywhere is to stop completely and let it heal. That's probably pretty unacceptable to most of us who like to exercise outdoors. I stopped running just about completely in April 2009. Rode a bike occasionally, did some hikes (Mt Agassiz July 09 with some pain, Mt Russell Sept 09 less pain), but no running. I can say that by Dec 2009/Jan 2010 I have been running pain free. I know that's a bit of a ramble but short story long, it was about 9 months to recovery. Worst 9 months of my life. This past Fall I increased my distance incrementally as long as there was minimal to no pain. 3 miles runs for one month, then 4 for a month, now back to 5 mile runs during the week and 8-10 on weekends. Pain and stiffness virtually gone. Hope to be doing the Lone Pine Wild Wild West marathon this May. No doctors, just a half a dozen chiropractic visits to asses my foot-leg bio-mechanics to locate any strain that may be taking place. My calves are too stiff. Now I use "the stick" roller thingy to knead my calves and achilles before runs. Works nicely. Good luck and as was said previously, be patient.

Tendinitis is inflammation and swelling of the tendon; Tendinosis is degeneration or breakdown of the tendon. Tendinitis usually results from overwork, but can also result from the tendon being irritated by other structures, or even, in the case of the Achilles, rubbing against a boot that doesn't fit. Tendinitis can lead to breakdown of the tissue, ie tendinosis, such as in the Achilles tendon; however, tendinosis can occur without being preceded by tendinitis..this happens in fairly avascular tendons such as the supraspinatus tendon, and is usually the result of overwork, age, poor mechanics etc etc. Tendinitis usually occurs due to microtrauma, that is, microscopic damage to the tissue fibers. This leads to the inflammation and swelling which, if left untreated, can eventually lead to a further breakdown of the tissue protein structures.

If you have tearing of the tendon, you may be pain free in as little as a month, but that is not the end of the story. Connective tissue has a nasty habit of forming what is called "crosslinking" of the fibers when healing. This occurs with age and inactivity as well. This leads to a decrease in the elasticity of the tendon, and a decrease in Range of motion. This is a problem for the active individual. First, the tendon transmits the force of the calf muscle's contraction to the foot. It acts like a rubber band in that there is first a stretch after contraction and then the tendon shortens, pulling the foot along. Any impairment of this elasticity will impact the way the muscles transmit force, will alter the mechanics of the movement, and may lead to other mechanical problems. This will be particularly noticeable in walking up an incline. Second, the calf-Achilles tendon unit is fairly unique in that it can store up a great deal of mechanical energy because of its length and elasticity, much more than the knee and hip tendons. This allows plantar flexion of the foot, or toe off, to be aided by this "rebound" effect, and decreases the metabolic work needed in walking and running. Impairment of this due to alteration of the fibers means that the calf and other muscles involved in running/walking will have to work much harder. Third, the tendon acts as a force damper on impact of the foot with the ground, ie it absorbs force. If it looses some of this ability due to loss of elasticity, length, etc. this force has to be absorbed somewhere else, such as the knee and hip, as well as putting greater eccentric force on the calves, which will lead to such things as greater calf soreness, and increased likelihood of knee and hip injury.

Bottom line is, in order to return to doing what you used to do without future problems, you have to ensure that the tendon heals at the proper length, without any shortening, with as little crosslinking as possible, and with the strength to absorb impact and transmit it without reinjury.

I'm guessing that physical therapy would be in order here. Proper stretching by a pro would yield proper range of motion during the healing process without reinjury?
Laura?

1988 I had a tear that was a 10 on a scale of 10.
The surgery they did on my mine was fairly new at the time and consisted of taking a piece of the tendon and threading it back through the torn part. It was performed by team doctors who worked for the Angels baseball team among others and they told me it would be stronger than my other achilles tendon. That has proved to be true.
It was a full year+ before I was close to 100% Lot's of PT and you have to be serious about it. Don't take it lightly.

In July 1976 I tore my Achilles tendon on the summit of Mt. Russell, about three seconds before this picture was taken. See more of the story here.

Three days later I had surgery at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. A cast from hip to toe for six weeks, then one from knee to toe for another six. By December I was doing climbs of a few hours duration, and was back to full strength the following summer. I suspect techniques have improved so that recovery is much quicker now.

That's a heck of a place to tear your achilles tendon!

I suspect like you do Bob that techniques for this operation hav changed since 1976 but based on what you're recovery time was maybe not much. I just read this story about the well known British soccer player David Backham. I guess he tore his achilles in a game last night. They're looking at several months before he can play again. The story is here

Bob R-Gosh do I give you credit for getting down. I just remember the tremendous pain and the foot flapping and that was only fron 2nd to 3rd base during a baseball game and not climbing down a mountain.

Bob, I loved the "four points of contact". That's a climb you'll probably never forget. Kudos on getting down without further injury.

I used to strain my soleus all the time while running.Now after doing tons of weighted calf raises I don't have that problem any more. My physical therapist said you need flexibility, strength training and endurance training to keep those muscles from getting pulled/strained. It has worked for me.