Quickly and confidently identify Achilles tendon rupture and/or tendinopathy at its insertion or mid-span or identify tears of the gastrocnemius muscle.
in a patient presenting with heel pain or lower calf pain a quick scan can identify multiple pathologies that may be causing their symptoms using a linear scanner on an msk preset i'm going to take it in a longitudinal orientation starting on the calcaneus and the insertion of the achilles tendon from here i like to proceed proximally up the leg identifying that tendon along its length all the way up through its mid-span and up into the gastrocnemius tears of the gastroc can be seen up here in its distal aspect or even further up into the posterior calf area a similar scan can be done in transverse looking at the belly of the gastroc and then coming back down transverse back into the achilles tendon the tendon can also be visualized going through its dynamic range of motion by dorsiflexing and plantar flexing the foot with the probe on the tendon itself both to visualize the fat underneath the achilles and to see it thickening and lengthening out through its range of motion and in this healthy patient no obvious pathology was identified
