One hundred and five consecutive patients with a closed acute rupture of
the tendo achillis were assigned randomly for surgical or non-surgical
treatment. After treatment, the patients were evaluated clinically and with
static and dynamic measurements of plantar flexion strength. Only minor
differences were noted between the final results in the two groups.
Non-surgical treatment had the advantages of shorter morbidity and no
hospital stay. The frequency of major complications was about the same in
both groups of patients: two re-ruptures and two deep infections in
patients who had operations as compared with five re-ruptures in the
conservatively treated patients. I concluded that non-surgical treatment
offers advantages over surgical treatment.