Surgical versus conservative treatment following acute rupture of the Achilles tendon: is there a pedobarographic difference?

Fatih Karaaslan,1 Musa Uğur Mermerkaya,1 Alper Çıraklı,2 Sinan Karaoğlu,3 Fuat Duygulu21Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey; 2Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Kayseri Training Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey; 3Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Memorial Kayseri Hospital, Kayseri, TurkeyIntroduction: Controversy remains regarding the optimal treatment method and postoperative rehabilitation of acute Achilles tendon ruptures. In this study, pedobarographic assessments of surgical and conservative treatments were compared.Material and methods: A prospective assessment was made of 16 patients (eight surgical, eightconservative) and eight healthy controls using a plantar pressure measurement system. Biomechanical gait parameters were obtained using the Footscan dynamic gait analysis system. Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U-tests were used for the evaluation of data.Results: Nineteen males and five females were assessed, with an average age of 42.0±11.9 years. Follow-up was completed in 16 patients. No statistically significant difference was determined between the two treatment groups with regard to the gait analysis, but a difference was observed with the control group (P