My Achilles Tendon Hurts: What Can I Do?
The Achilles tendon is the strongest and one of the most important tendons in the foot. It is integral in the performance of the foot and allows for many movements, such as standing on the tip of your toes. When the Achilles tendon hurts, walking or sports performance can be severely limited.
Pain in the Achilles tendon is usually caused be a strain of the tendon. This strain can can lead to inflammation in the tendon or small tears in the tendon. In some cases, the cause of the pain is a bony spur on the heel bone or tendon calcification.
Conservation Achilles Tendon Treatment
In most cases, diseases of the Achilles tendon requires nonsurgical treatment. One of the most effective and widely used treatments is physiotherapy. A trained physiotherapists will show you exercises to strengthen your calf muscles, which in result will alleviate the pain.
For micro-tears of the tendon, injections with growth factors extracted from your own blood help the tendon to heal. The injection is performed three times once a week. To treat inflammation of the tendon, physical therapy applications help. If calcifications are present at the insertion of the Achilles tendon to the heel bone, shock wave treatment may be used to treat the tendon.
Surgical Treatment of the Achilles Tendon
A smaller percentage of Achilles tendon tendonitis requires surgery. During surgery, the inflamed or torn tissue is removed and the tendon is repaired with resorbable suture material. After the surgery, the patient is usually immobilized with plaster or a walker, and extensive physical therapy is necessary.