Tendon is soft tissue which connects muscle to bone. Instead of its flexibility tendons are quite substantial. Achilles tendon is commonly known as Heel cord. It is located at the back portion of the lower leg and it connects heel bone to calf muscle. Due to presence of this tendon hell becomes movable and human can walk. It is the unique feature of Heel cord that it can carry 17times more loads of body weight.
Types of Achilles Tendon Injuries:
Basically two types of Achilles Tendon injuries are found i.e Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Lets have a look on these categories which hamper peoples normal lifestyle. The objectives of two significant categories are described below.
- Extrinsic Injury: In this injury the Achilles tendon of a person can be ruptured fully or partially. This damage is basically seen after the age of 30 due to fatigue soleus muscle and deposition of cholesterol.
- Intrinsic Injury: Achilles tendinopathy is categorized under the intrinsic injury. It is mainly occurred due to overuse of heel cord. Two kinds of problems can arise i.e tendonosis and tendonitis. It is needless to say that Achilles Tendonitis is the inflammation of heel cord and due to degeneration of tendon, Achilles tendonosis is occurred.
Cause of Intrinsic Injuries:
The injuries of Achilles tendon are also called overuse disorder. If the usage of heel cord is suddenly increased this problem can happen. So the people of different profession can be affected by this injury. Besides overuse, sudden intensification of physical activity, tendency of wearing stiletto, some specific sports, dance steps etc can be highly responsible for it.
Treatments:
If the injury is not of long time and the damage is minimal then surgery is not required instead of rest, cold compress, oral medications, splints and stretching exercise. But surgery is essential when non-surgical procedures fail to cure.
