Ruptured Achilles Tendon - The Beginning.

One of my greatest fears, a ruptured Achilles tendon, has hit close to home. 

On Sunday, Feb 26, 2012 my boyfriend, Kevin, ruptured his Achilles tendon while playing basketball. As with most other ruptured Achilles, it comes without warning to most "weekend warriors". As he began to take a step, it felt like someone kicked him in the leg. He turned around and saw that no one was behind him, so he began to continue forward, it was at that moment, he felt the dreaded "pop".

He hopped off court, put an ankle brace on and elevated his foot. 

When he got home, he told me what he did, and as a person studying physical therapy, I ran some special tests on him and the results didn't look good. Looking at the leg, it was swollen with a visible depression where the tendon should be. The Thompson test showed that his foot didn't move. He was unable to perform toe raises or any type of weight bearing, which again showed positive for a ruptured Achilles. 

Since it was Sunday, and my orthopedic wasn't open, I wasn't sure where to take him. I called Urgent care and they said my b/f would need to go to the Hospital. 

So we headed to the nearest hospital around noon, and we didn't leave the hospital until after 5pm. It was a long visit. The doctor thought it was a partial tear and not a full tear because Kevin was able to put his foot into plantar flexion, (pointing down), but he was reluctant to say for sure. So he said we had to call the orthopedic surgeon on Monday and schedule an appointment. He wrapped up Kevin's left leg in a splint, and sent us home. 

Since Kevin is allergic to acetaminophen, its limited to what type of pain meds he can take, so he opted to not take any. He said the pain wasn't too bad to just tough if out.

Right leg - Unaffected leg
See the nice curvature of the Achilles tendon

Left Leg - Ruptured Achilles