Can you feel a tendon gap with a mild or partial achilles tendon tear?
If playing basketball, patients feel as if someone kicked them in the back of the leg. If they’re playing tennis, they often say they feel like a ball struck them in the back of the leg. In both instances, I’ve had patients tell me that they turned around to confront the person who hit them, and found no one was there! The pain dissipates fairly rapidly, but they usually start to notice a limp and weakness. When a rupture does occur, the ends of the tendon separate at least 3 cm. The gap fills in with blood, which becomes scar tissue.
