RUPTURE OF THE TENDO ACHILLIS, ETC. 983 



points of origin and insertion of the flexor pedis, and the phalanges 

 take up a position of excessive plantar flexion. The hock can also 

 be flexed to an unusual degree by the exertion of a little force. As 

 a rule, a depression may be noted in the course of the tendon or 

 swelling in the gastrocnemii muscles ; the tendon appears relaxed 

 even when the limb touches the ground. In incomplete rupture 

 lameness is shown when weight is thrown on the limb, and there 

 is more or less pronounced flexion of the joints, particularly of the 

 hock-joint. 



The prognosis depends almost entirely on whether the uninjured 

 leg can sustain weight until union occurs. Small animals, like dogs 

 and cats, almost always do well, but larger animals, as St. Cyr pointed 

 out, are less favourably circumstanced. They sometimes succumb to 

 the continued standing or lying, for union takes from four to six weeks, 

 and under some circumstances may be protracted for several months. 

 Oxen do best lying, but as horses are obliged to stand, it becomes a 

 question whether laminitis may not supervene in the other foot. 

 Nevertheless a considerable number of recoveries have been recorded 

 in the horse. The grounds for forming a prognosis are so slight 

 that it is generally more prudent to withhold it, and watch closely 

 for unfavourable symptoms. As a rule, in the horse the hind feet 

 are more liable to contract laminitis than the front, although they 

 bear less weight — a fact to be kept in mind when one limb is disabled. 

 In small animals recovery is more probable, and if other means fail, 

 an attempt may be made to suture the tendon. 



Union is more rapid when the tendon is ruptured than when it is 

 torn away from the os calcis. Partial ruptures, in which some weight, 

 however slight, can still be placed on the limb, are more hopeful. As 

 a rule, the more marked the degree of flexion, the slighter the chance 

 of recovery. Recovery is often protracted by elongation of the 

 tendon and consequent lameness. 



Treatment. In small animals the hock-joint should be as much 

 as possible extended and a plaster bandage applied. Larger animals, 

 like horses, are slung, so as to keep the hock continuously extended 

 and the ends of the divided tendon or muscle as close as possible. 

 In quiet horses this may be assisted by bandaging and applying 

 adhesive plaster. Such a dressing certainly allows of some move- 

 ment, but for this very reason is better borne than the rigid plaster- 

 bandage or than splints. St. Cyr stated that the latter are apt to 

 produce excoriation, and that it is often better not to check movement. 

 Martens saw the divided Achilles tendon unite in two months without 

 the horse being slung, and Griiner in two and a half months, Light 



