A few of my patients today wanted to get my impression of David Beckham’s injury. Although I know of no specific details regarding his injury, based on the description in the media he suffered a complete tear. A completely ruptured or torn Achilles tendon is typically repaired surgically, particularly in a competitive athlete who wants to regain near normal strength and function. A complete tear of the Achilles treated non-operatively typically results in a more significant loss of strength with push-off as compared to patients who have a repair. Other tears, such as the peroneals or posterior tibial, typically are incomplete tears and are more chronic and slow in their progression. The main advantage of surgical intervention for a completely torn Achilles is restoration of strength and a decrease in rerupture rate, and the main disadvantage is wound breakdowns. Typically, recovery is at least as quick with surgery as compared to casting. Here in South Florida, the majority of these injuries that I have seen have been from tennis, followed by racquetball and basketball. I treated a patient last week from Miami who jumped off of a palm tree backwards.