I have been diagnosed with this. I went to the Dr with what I thought was a torn Achilles. It turns out I DO have a tear in my Achilles(more like a vertical slit)caused by a bone deformity on my calcaneus. This has caused severe bursitis, too. I, also, have ligament issues but these are not related. I have been doing PT on my ankle for 5 weeks. My Dr says I will be a walking miracle if PT works BUT I have to do it for 3 more weeks. My PT says he can fix me or, at least get me managable. I really don’t want to have surgery but am about ready to pull the plug on PT and have it done.
My questions are… has anyone had this surgery? Can I run with a slight tear in my Achilles? What is the recovery? Can I manage w/o the surgery?
I’ve already had to cancel two races and this not running thing is driving me ape sh*t! Thank goodness for the bike!
For one, you should certainly ask your doc these questions! If you have a longitudinal tear in the achilles (diagnosed via MRI likely, or possibly ultrasound), you shouldn’t run until it is healed.
The surgery itself is technically simple, but depending on how large your bony deformity is, part of the achilles often needs to be reflected to get at it. This will impact your recovery time a great deal. Most patients know if/when they need the surgery after many years of on/off pain, PT, etc. since the actual deformity never really goes away.
I have asked my Dr. The tear was diagnosed by MRI. Does the Achilles heal on its own?? My Dr told me he had never seen such an inflamed bursa. He,also, thinks that my achilles has pulled a chunk of bone away from my calcaneus. I have been told that I can be in the pool a week to 10 days after surgery(depending on how my incision heals) and on my bike w/in 2 weeks(trainer). Running, well, a month to 6 weeks and that is very short distances. He told me no marathons or IMs this year. I have been running in pain for years BUT feel better than I have in a very long time since I’ve been going to PT. My mind was set on surgery last month. I think, now, I understand that I am headed down that road but get very confused that my Dr keeps sending me back to PT. What is your opinion on recovery time???
All those “times” seem a bit on the short/optimistic time to me. Not sure on the comment if you have an avulsion fracture from the achilles on the calcaneus. That is pretty obvious on X-ray or MRI. Not much to debate there, and if that is the case, I’m not sure why one would be referred to PT …