achillo-, achill-, Achilles

The Trojan hero and son of Thetis and Peleus from a Greek myth.

A weakness that seems small but makes someone fatally vulnerable.

A reflex action of the foot that jerks downward when the lower leg muscles contract.

The tendon that connects the heelbone to the calf muscles.

Inflammation and thickening of the bursae [saclike cavities filled with a fluid about the Achilles tendon; especially, of the bursa in front of it].

Pain in the Achilles tendon or in its bursa; achillobursitis.

The Achilles tendon is one of the better known anatomic features in sports medicine because of the abrupt nature of some abrupt injuries to this tendon. It is in the back of the lower leg and connects the calf muscle (the triceps surae) with the calcaneus bone in the heel.

This tendon is so named for the hero whose heel, according to Greek mythology, was the only part of his body where he was unprotected from harm.

A reflexogram of the Achilles tendon reflex.

Suture (joint in which the opposed surfaces are closely united or material used in closing a surgical wound with stitches) of the Achilles tendon.

Surgical division of the Achilles tendon or one of the longest tendons in the body, (formally called the tendo achilles or the tendo calcaneus) is a tough sinew that attaches the calf muscle to the back of the heel bone (the calcaneus).

According to Greek mythology, achilles's mother held him as a baby by the heel and dipped him in the river styx to make him invulnerable but the heel by which she held him remained unimmersed and hence vulnerable, as Paris' arrow in Achilles' heel later proved.

See Achilles' Heel, the Myth for more details.

A plastic surgery procedure to elongate the Achilles tendon.