Misty's dancing career and leg go pop!

Superstar athlete and 2-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor injured her leg on the reality TV series Dancing With The Stars. She was forced to drop out of the dancing competition and had to undergo surgery to repair her injured leg. During training / rehearsal for the show Misty ruptured her calcaneal (Achilles) tendon. She reportedly heard a "pop" which is common of people tearing their calcaneal tendon... others often describe "feeling" something hit the back of their leg... caused by the sudden rupture of the body's largest and possibly strongest tendon. [Click images for a larger view]

The rupture of the calcaneal tendon could be a somewhat serious injury to a volleyball player like Misty given the tremendous force and stress on the tendon during jumping and leaping. The Achilles is formed by the tendinous contributions of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles (i.e., the calf muscles) which are used in plantarflexion of the foot at the ankle... which is part of the motion of jumping. Of course, most athletes make a full recovery from this type of injury and the occurrence of re-rupturing the tendon does not appear to be high. Check out eMedicine for a detailed description of Achilles tendon rupture (LINK). Hopefully Misty will be back to volleyball as good as new when she returns to the beach, and perhaps the AVP beach volleyball tour will comeback to Sacramento... haha... probably not... look at the empty stands... regardless, check out May-Treanor's vertical leap at the net. She is going to need those Achilles tendons healed and healthy.

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