What to do about achilles tendenosis?

Question

I have bilateral achilles tendenosis. Orthopedic surgeon put the worse leg in a walking splint 3 mos. Went to physical therapy. Got as strong and flexible as I could be. Still in pain. Back to orthopedic surgeon. He had no answers. Said it would either get better or rupture. Tried Egoscue book techniques. Tried ultrasound. Got orthodics. New shoes. Now using a night splint. Nothing is helping me. I'm an incredibly active person, from hiking to tennis to hauling rocks around my garden and this is ruining my life. Now I can hardly just walk through the day. Forget any kind of what I would call normal physical activity for me. Therapeutic doses of ibuprofen help, but how long can I keep taking that? Am about to try chiropractic. If that doesn't work, acupuncture. My understanding is that an operation to scrape the tendon doesn't help that much and actually makes the tendon more liable to breakage. Does anyone have any answers? I'm one miserable person.

Answer 1

Achilles tendinosis is a chronic condition associated with gradual degeneration of the Achilles tendon. All tendons require good blood circulation to repair microscopic tears caused throughout the day. However, the Achilles tendon tends to be poorly circulated and is unable to repair these micro tears as quickly as they occur. Eventually the tendon will thicken and become weak, resulting in the pain you are experiencing. Damage usually occurs about 6 cm above the heel.

Typical treatment includes stretching of the tendon/calf, wearing a boot to immobilize and rest the tendon (in order to stop the micro damage from occurring), and physical therapy to decrease pain, increase mobility and eventually, strengthen.

From: http://footandankle.mdmercy.com/conditions/achilles_tendon_probs/achilles_tendinosis.html
"If pain and weakness continue after prolonged boot treatment, then surgery is necessary to repair and reconstruct the degenerated Achilles tendon. Full and successful treatment is unfortunately not always successful without surgery.

The surgery is not always predictable, since the tendon has deteriorated, and it may not be possible to get it to heal again. The deteriorated portion of the tendon is removed (debrided), and the healthy sides of the tendon are stitched together. If the extent of the degeneration is severe, a tendon transfer is performed. The tendon transfer is done much like the repair for chronic Achilles rupture as described above."

Answer 2

Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons in Troy (southeast Thessaly), and the immortal sea nymph Thetis. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, the fire-bringer, warned Zeus of a prophecy that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed to Peleus.According to the incomplete poem Achilleis written by Statius in the first century AD, and to no other sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. However, she forgot to wet the heel she held him by, leaving him vulnerable at that spot. Homer’s famous Iliad, written sometime around 800 B.C., was probably one of the greatest stories ever written and still considered a masterpiece. It centered on the siege of Troy, which until 1870 when the ruins were discovered, was believed to have been a mythical place. Until then, almost everyone thought the Iliad was fiction. Since Troy is now considered to have been a real place, the overwhelming consensus of archaeologists, what else about the Iliad could be factual? We cannot know for sure if Achilles or Hector really existed, or if they were indeed as powerful as Homer depicted.Good question for which I have no perfect answer but from what these early Greeks accomplished, and with their passionate beliefs in gods, goddesses, oracles and the muse, I suspect there is more truths to the Iliad and Greek mythology that modern man is willing to accept.

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Answer 3

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