Do major functional deficits persist 2 years after acute Achilles tendon rupture?
This long-term follow-up indicates that the majority of patients with an Achilles tendon rupture have not fully recovered (in regards to symptoms, physical activity level and function) 2 years after injury regardless of surgical or non-surgical treatment. Furthermore, only minor improvements occur between the 1- and 2-year evaluations. This indicates that to enhance the final outcome the focus should be on improvements in treatment within the first year. The patients appear to have adjusted to their impairments since the patient-reported outcome is relatively high in spite of functional deficits and lower activity level compared with pre-injury.
The average level of non-use of assistive technology found in this study is less than often reported in the literature and varies between the various categories of assistive technology. Improving the quality of the assistive technology and the services, and providing assistive technology that solves the users' problem as much as possible, could enhance the use of assistive technology provided.