Painless rupture of the Achilles tendon in a diabetic patient with sensory neuropathy

We describe a 71‐year‐old female diabetic patient with sensory distal lower limb neuropathy, who presented with painless swelling and erythema of the left ankle and lower shin. Diagnoses of cellulitis, deep venous thrombosis and Charcot neuroarthropathy were considered, but eventually a magnetic resonance scan showed complete rupture of the Achilles tendon. There was no history of trauma, and the absence of pain was presumed to be due to her dense sensory neuropathy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons.