Kinesiological Comments on Subcutaneous Ruptures of the Achilles Tendon

On the basis of the history given by patients who have sustained subcutaneous rupture of the Achilles tendon, Arner & Lindholm (1959), among others, have described the type of the trauma (landing, pushoff, stumbling), but without further assessment of what happens in the individual muscles and joints or the forces which might be involved.Nevertheless, they concluded that an indirect injury would never be able to cause rupture in a healthy tendon.Ljungqvist (1969) quoted Carlsoo who had reported that the stress on the Achilles tendon during fast running might reach 900 kp, but did not state his opinion as to whether this might constitute an adequate trauma.Stucke (1950) found 400 kp to be the tensile strength of the human Achilles tendon.In 1961 he believed that this limit may be exceeded in skiing accidents.Grafe, in 1969, photographed the double backward somersault, which is the situation in which rupture of the Achilles tendon is most apt to occur in gymnasts.By measurements on the photographs he found that during the landing and the following push-off both Achilles tendons were exposed to a total stress of 1070 kp.If, unintentionally, the somersault is asymmetrical, the stress on one of the 1070 Achilles tendons would exceed ~ kp.Grafe concluded that the stress 2 was sufficient to cause rupture of a healthy tendon.Evaluation of the nature of the injury is based upon the history given by the patient.As in other accidents or diseases these data may be inaccurate, possibly misleading.As far as tendon rupture is concerned, the events take place in less than 1/10 second.Very few people,