Medical history
Your health professional will ask you questions about your past
medical history, including injuries to your
Achilles tendon. These questions may include the
following:
- Did your pain start gradually or
suddenly?
- If gradually, what sports or activities are you involved
in? How often do you do these activities? Does changing how you do the activity
affect the pain?
- Have you injured your Achilles tendon before? How
was it treated?
- Have you had any
corticosteroid injections in your Achilles
tendon?
- If your pain started suddenly, what were you doing when you
were injured?
- Did you feel or hear a pop at the time of
injury?
- Could you walk after the injury?
Physical exam
During a physical exam, your health professional will thoroughly
examine you, including:
- Checking and comparing both legs to see what is
normal motion and how the injury (tendinopathy or
rupture
) has affected your lower leg and
ankle. - Checking for swelling and tenderness.
- Feeling
your lower leg for gaps in your Achilles tendon, thickening of the tendon, or
bony growths on the heel bone.
- Observing how you stand and
walk.
- Performing the
calf squeeze test to identify a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Additional testing may include a:
- Knee-flexion test, to observe foot movement
when the knee is flexed.
- Needle test, to observe the movement of a
needle that is inserted into the calf near the tendon.
- Pressure
test, to observe the pressure on an inflated wrap around the calf.
