Occurrence of the Plantaris Tendon in Patients Sustaining Subcutaneous Rupture of the Achilles Tendon *

Abstract

Many surgeons treat closed subcutaneous rupture of the Achilles tendon with primary surgical repair. Reinforcement of the primary repair can be accomplished easily using the plantaris tendon. Unfortunately, in the population of patients who sustain this injury, the plantaris is absent in 60% of patients. This is a statistically significant difference when compared to the absence of the plantaris tendon of less than 10% in reported cadaveric studies.