Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures: A Comparison of Minimally Invasive and Open Approach Repairs Followed by Early Rehabilitation

We retrospectively compared the outcomes of early functional weight-bearing after use of 2 different approaches (minimally invasive, standard) for surgical repair of the Achilles tendon. We reviewed the cases of 63 consecutive patients who underwent repair of an acute closed Achilles tendon rupture and had follow-up of at least 6 months.

Of these 63 patients, 33 were treated with a minimally invasive posterolateral approach (minimal group), and 30 were treated with a standard posteromedial approach (standard group). Two weeks after surgery, each patient was allowed to weight-bear as tolerated in a controlled ankle movement boot with a 20° heel wedge. At 6 weeks, the patient was placed in a regular shoe with a heel lift. We examined range of motion and incidence of reruptures, sural nerve injuries, and wound complications at 6 weeks and 3 months and calf strength at 6 months.

Neither group had any reruptures. Mean incision length was 2.5 cm (minimal group) and 7.2 cm (standard group). One patient (3.2%) in the minimal group and 6 patients (20%) in the standard group developed a superficial wound infection. Four (12.9%) of 31 minimal patients and no standard patients developed a sural nerve deficit. There were statistically significant differences between the groups’ wound complication rates (P = .04) and nerve injury rates (P = .043). At final follow-up, the groups did not differ in their functional outcomes (ability to perform a single heel raise, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society scores).

Used after a minimally invasive posterolateral or standard posteromedial approach, early functional weightbearing is an effective and safe method for treating acute ruptures of the Achilles tendon, and it has a lower rate of soft-tissue complications. A standard posteromedial approach has a higher rate of wound complications, and a minimally invasive posterolateral approach has a higher rate of sural nerve injury.