Our team at Capital Foot & Ankle, led by Dr. Trinity Mereau and Dr. Steven Walters, can help you recover from an Achilles tendon tear in Austin, TX, and ensure you’re ready to return to your day-to-day life. Here are a few treatment approaches we may take with you.

Non-Surgical Option: Rest With a Boot

In some cases (usually if the tendon isn’t completely torn), we might use a conservative treatment focusing mostly on rest and staying off your foot. This approach includes bracing your damaged ankle in a walking boot, resting the damaged area, icing it, and doing some physical therapy. This process should take 6–12 weeks to finish.

Physical Therapy: A Key Approach to Recovery

During recovery, you’ll typically need physical therapy to get back on your feet. That’s because the tendon might be stiff, and you might lose some strength and flexibility in your foot. Physical therapy includes regular exercises, stretches, and other types of support that can help you get back on your feet. Recovery will include steps like:

• Ice, a leg brace, ultrasound therapy, and other types of treatments 
• Careful range-of-motion exercises to improve your strength
• Strengthening exercises that restore balance and stability 

It’s important to understand, though, that our Capital Foot & Ankle team typically needs to repair an Achilles tendon tear in Austin, TX, with surgery. This process can help fix the damage and get you back on your feet. Don't worry: Achilles tendon surgery works very well for most people.

Surgery: Helps Repair the Damaged Tendon

During Achilles tendon surgery, surgeons will fix the damaged tendon to help keep it strong and minimize pain. This treatment takes up to an hour, though it may last only 30 minutes, and is an outpatient procedure. Once it’s done, you’re put into a cast that goes from your knee to your toes and keeps your foot pointed and your tendon straight during your recovery. 

After your surgery, you’ll walk on crutches for at least two weeks and get a checkup with your doctor, who can remove the stitches and check the wound. If the wound is healing properly, they will fit you with a boot and a heel lift. Over the next several weeks and months, they’ll slowly get you off your crutches, remove your boot, and provide physical therapy. 

Keep Your Feet Strong

At Capital Foot & Ankle, Dr. Mereau and Dr. Walters can help with your Achilles tendon tear in Austin, TX, along with other common health issues. We’re here to manage any podiatry issues that might affect you, so please make sure that you call us at 512-474-6666 today.