Surgical treatment of tendinopathy achilles tendon

Abstract

Introduction: Calcaneus tendinopathy has a slow, progressive, painful, and progressively limiting evolution to the patient. Many patients do not present a good outcome with the conservative treatment. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of the Achilles tendinopathy treatment with the reinforcement of the flexor hallucis longus tendon; to identify the profile of patients with tendinopathy; to identify complications and percentage of recurrence of symptoms; to compare pre- and post-operative AOFAS evaluations. Methods: Thirty-four patients, 22 men and 12 women, suffering from tendinopathy of the Achilles tendon were treated from January, 2007 to January, 2011, following the protocol established padrobythe authors with an average follow-up of 23.38 months. Results: All patients were satisfied and completely asymptomatic at 18 months postoperative. The final average AOFAS score was 95.08 points. Conclusion: The use of augmentation with flexor hallucis longus tendon is an effective treatment of the Achilles tendon tendinopathy. Patients were satisfied and returned to their full physical activities, prior to tendinopathy. Profile of patients with tendinopathy of the Achilles tendon in this sample was predominantly male, mean age of 52.08 years-old, nonprofessional sports man or sedentary, with retraction of ischiotibials (100%) and body mass index (94.11% of cases) above 25 kg/m2. The AOFAS score in the final postoperative evaluation (95.08 points) shows a significant difference when compared to the preoperative AOFAS score (60.14 points).