Bolton’s Welsh International Sam Rickets’ Achilles Tendon Injury

Bolton Wanderers defender Sam Ricketts has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after sustaining a ruptured Achilles Tendon in Wednesday’s 1-0 FA Cup fourth-round replay victory over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. The Wales international full-back is expected to be out for six months and ha an operation on Friday.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s fifth round fixture away to Fulham, Coyle said: “Unfortunately Sam has ruptured his Achilles and he will be operated on today”.
The Wales international had to be carried off on a stretcher in the second half after going to ground in an attempt to close down Victor Moses.
“He has been outstanding for us and our immediate thoughts go to him as we wish for a speedy recovery,” added Coyle.
Coyle added: “I think he just went to recover as Moses was raiding for Wigan, and it looked innocuous, but he has certainly damaged his Achilles, that is for sure. He has put his foot down and stumbled, so it is very unfortunate.”
“Sam will get all the help from the club that he requires, but we will now have to get on with everything.”
Coyle refused to blame the state of the Wigan’s pitch which has now been re-laid after tearing up in recent weeks.

Where is your Achilles tendon?
The Achilles Tendon is the lengthy tendon that connects the calves to your heel in the back of your lower leg.
It comes in all shapes and forms – ranging from long and thin to short and thicker nevertheless they all do exactly the same task – move forces from your calves to the feet and vice versa.
The Achilles tendon (or even more correctly tendocalcaneus) is the thickest as well as most robust individual tendon.
It starts close to the middle of the lower leg and reaches as much as 15cm in length before attaching to the hindfoot (calcaneus).

Achilles Tendon Surgery
The Achilles Tendon usually ruptures around 5 cm higher than the heel attachment. The edges separate from one other a bit like cutting the ends of an elastic band.
These edges are pulled together at the operation and stitched using sturdy sutures. In the past the patient was put in a plaster cast with the foot aiming down and it was hoped that the tendon cured well enough to deliver functionality. Surgical treatment was thought to be much less appropriate due to the fact there was an increase risk of an infection especially since the wound in the lower-leg needed to be 20 centimetres long to get proper access to the tendon. The surgery is now able to performed through very small incisions which has a far lower risk of infection.

Operative correction of the torn tendon is almost always essential in sportspeople and is carried out so as to regain the ideal strength of the Achilles, as well as the normal pushing-off strength in the foot. The strength of the muscles is dependent upon the proper stiffness between the muscle and the tendon. The only method that the correct tension on the tendon can be set is by precisely restoring the tendon edges.

This is a quote from the specialist who operated on David Beckham Achilles Rupture – Dr Orava said: “Today we allow patients to do motion earlier than before. In this case we try to get motion back as soon as possible. The operation takes less than one hour. [After the] first month, there can gradually be more and more motion and muscle contractions, and very gradually [shifting] from light training to harder training in the second month. After that, one is usually able to walk and maybe start running lightly after two months if everything goes fine. All this depends on the type of tear.”
“Top athletes usually heal well but it’s a few months until you are back at the same level as you were before. I don’t think it is a big difference to be [aged] 25 or 35, it will be three, four, five months. Most of these patients come back at the same level, even in a top soccer player.”