Ankle Tendon Tears in Manhattan, NY

A foot tendon tear usually occurs when one of the tendons in the foot is damaged from sudden injury or overuse. A tendon is a tough band of tissue made up of many fibers that connects muscle to bone. The foot has several tendons, but the three main tendons that can be damaged are the posterior tibial tendon, peroneal tendons, and achilles tendon.

A tendon tear can be painful and make it hard to do any activities that require you to put weight on your foot. The posterior tibial tendon attaches the calf muscle to the bones on the inside of your foot. It holds up the arch of the foot and supports the foot during walking. A tear to this tendon is usually from a fall. But it can also be injured from overuse. This is most common in athletes who put a lot of stress on the ankle during sports like basketball or soccer. The anterior tibial tendon runs from the shin to the top of the foot. Injuries to this tendon are much less common than to the posterior tibial tendon. The two peroneal tendons run down the outer part of your lower leg and behind your ankle bone on the outside of your foot. One tendon attaches to the middle of your foot on the outside and the other attaches to the bottom of your foot near the arch. Tears in these tendons are usually caused by an ankle sprain or a blow to the ankle. It can also be caused by overuse, usually in athletes who repeat movements that put stress on the ankle. The Achilles tendon connects the calf to the heel bone and is important for walking, running, and jumping. It is the largest tendon in the body. It can tear if there is a sudden high stress that is put on it, especially if the calf muscle is stiff or weak and can’t take its share of the stress.

Patients may have mild, moderate or severe swelling to the outside or inside aspect of the ankle depending on the degree of injury to the tendons. Other symptoms may include:

• Pain at the site of injury
• Pain with weightbearing
• Swelling, redness, and warmth at the site of injury
• Limited range of motion due to stiffness
• Patients may even endorse weakness and instability with walking

If you still have pain after exhausting conservative treatment measures such as physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications, and stretching, our providers at Ospina Medical can offer other non-surgical alternatives. Using our world class Regenexx regenerative medicine platform, our specialists can utilize platelet-rich plasma (PRP), platelet lysate (PL) and/or bone marrow concentrate containing stem cells to help treat ankle tendon tears. During this outpatient procedure, our expert physicians use precise imaging guidance to inject custom concentrations of your body’s natural healing cells into the specific areas of damage to repair and heal damaged tissue. Best of all, your downtime will be a fraction of that of surgery, with little to no need for opioid pain medications or time off of work.

If you are interested to learn more about Regenexx and whether you qualify for treatment, please reach out to Ospina Medical, located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City to speak with one of our Regenexx providers today.