So, can you walk with a torn Achilles tendon? There are usually two reasons why people ask this
question. The first is, they want to know ‘Ah! Have I actually torn my tendon? Will I be able to
walk with it?' You know, 'Is this a diagnosis?’ And the second is, they know they've torn it,
but they want to know, ‘Can I walk for exercise?’ In this video, I'm going to answer both of those
questions, and we're going to look at how it feels when you try to walk with a partially torn
Achilles tendon as well as a fully ruptured Achilles tendon. For those of you who don't
know me, my name is Maryke. I’m one of the physiotherapists from treatmyachilles.com,
where you can get online physiotherapy assessment as well as treatment for your Achilles injuries.
Have a look at the description of this video if you want a link to our website.
OK, so are you able to walk with a partially torn Achilles tendon?
Yup, you often are, and how it feels will depend on how much of the tendon you've torn.
So, remember when you have a partial tear, you only tear some of the fibres in the tendon.
Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's not that many. Now, when you place your heel on the floor,
it gently stretches the tendon, which is absolutely normal. But if you've torn it
in a place, it will also stretch those fibres a bit, and that causes pain. So,
if you've got a significant tear in that tendon, it will be quite painful to put your heel down
to the floor – you may not even be able to do that. You may have to keep yourself on your toes,
and you'll have quite a weird way of walking. And remember, we've done a whole video about how to
diagnose and treat partial tears. So, you may want to look at that as well for the rest of this. So,
yes, if it's a proper tear, you will likely struggle a lot to walk with it. If it's just
a small portion of the tear, or perhaps the tear is more in the middle of the tendon, right kind of
in the middle bundle rather than on the outside of it, it may not be that painful to walk – it
may just be a mild ache that you feel afterwards. And after a few days - two, three days - you can
walk quite comfortably. It's just when you try to walk quite fast that you may feel something. So,
it really depends. And if you suspect you've torn your tendon, have it checked out. Have somebody
assess you, because it's important to get the correct treatment as quickly as you can, because
that will help your recovery. Now, if we think of fully ruptured tendons, can you walk with those?
Likely not. So, a fully ruptured tendon means that the tendon is now fully torn through,
so your calf muscles, when they contract, there's nothing to pull on your heel bone and
point your toes down, so you can't propel yourself forwards as you're walking. You may
have surprisingly little pain there, because the ends can't pull on each other, so there's
nothing to create pain anymore. But when you try to walk, it's quite a flat-footed walk. You look a
little bit like a duck, and you can't push off. If you suspect you're fully torn your tendon,
you really need to have it looked to as quickly as possible, because if you can have it immobilized
in a boot or a cast in the right kind of plantar flex position within the first 24 to 48 hours,
your chances of that tendon healing properly without surgery is much, much better. Have a look,
we've done a full video about the treatments and diagnosis of
full Achilles ruptures as well, linked in the description of this video to that as well.
So then, the second question or reason why people ask, ‘Can I walk with a torn tendon?’
is that they want to know, ‘Is it okay for me to walk on this torn tendon of me?’ So,
yes and no. During the initial phases of your rehab, if you've got a partially torn tendon,
you want to probably limit how much you walk on it. But it depends on how severe it is. So,
we always try to find the baseline of how much walking is okay for our patients, and then use
that to slowly build it up. Because walking, especially towards the later stages of rehab,
becomes a really important part of how you get that tendon robust enough and give it enough
endurance to be able to return back to running, or other sports, or just your normal life again.
So, walking is OK, but it depends on the extent of the injury and where in that rehab journey
you are. So, you've got to work with your physio to figure out how much walking is OK for you. If
it's a fully ruptured one, I'm afraid you're going to find yourself in a boot for quite a long time,
and your doctor will give you very distinct guidelines as to how much weight he wants
you to put through that foot, even in the boot. Usually, once the boot comes off,
around six to eight weeks, depending on the protocol, you can start introducing some walking,
but you don't want to go totally crazy with it yet, because you won't have the full strength or
the mobility, and you can actually make things – even the rest of your foot – more painful
if you overdo it at that point. Brilliant! Hope you found this useful! And remember, we've got
lots of videos of different aspects of Achilles injuries, so have a look at our YouTube channel
and the playlists we've got there if you want more information. But
if you need more help with your Achilles injury, you're welcome to consult one of
the team via video call. Link to our website is in the description of this video. Take care!