The Achilles tendon attaches your calf muscle and wraps around the bottom of your heel. It’s the main mechanism that propels you forward when you’re walking or running. It’s a common injury in athletes and people who are attempting to return to physical fitness and when you try to do too much, too fast, this is when you can damage the tendon. We see people attempting a variety of different interventions and treatments to resolve the injury, but healing can be tricky.
At Tulsa Spine & Rehab we do things a little differently in regard to healing. Of course, in the case of a complete tear, a patient is going to wind up in surgery and then in a boot. Recovery is going to be lengthy and although the process is somewhat easier than it once was, there is still going to be a long rehabilitation period. We want to help those patients who haven’t yet suffered a tear and there are some key treatments that can help patients heal.
Healing Techniques
One treatment we use is to tape the injury with Kinesio or Rock tape. Taping can offer some symptomatic relief and we combine this with soft tissue therapy to reduce irritation and inflammation.
Specialized equipment can actually accelerate recovery and this is why we now offer the anti-gravity treadmill known as the Alter-G. If it is painful to walk or run, this NASA treadmill will take away the pain while still allowing you to exercise. We also use a device called the Total Gym and this is the device Chuck Norris promotes on T.V., although we use it a bit differently he recommends in his ads. Use of this device can reduce the pressure on a patient which allows them to do a “heel raise” where you go up on your toes, or you can do “eccentrics” which is a lengthening of the Achilles tendon through an under-load. To understand what eccentrics are, think of someone doing a bench press and slowly lowering the bar back down to your chest. This is sometimes called a “negative,” but this motion really benefits injured tendons. Once the tendon begins to heal, the goal is to return to walking or running.
What is the Recovery Timetable?
Because we have the ability to test people here in the clinic, the data we gather allows us to predict a recovery timetable. Generally recovery is between 6 to 12 weeks and although that might seem to be a lengthy period of time to some people, for this type injury, that’s a pretty fast time, especially when you consider there’s not a lot of blood flow to that tendon. People need to focus on continuing to move and exercise to keep the healing rate on track.
People also need to make sure they do their homework toward this end, when they seek treatment. A qualified professional team who understands how to treat this type injury is going to be your best asset in recovery.
