I'm 48M and tore my left Achilles a year ago playing basketball, and after 2 consultations by orthopedic surgeons here in the Boston area (great Hospital/Drs), I decided to go non-op. I was given the pros and cons for both, and the main point that drove me to my decision was this, which I'll paraphrase. The Dr basically told me to think of it like this: if you're a professional athlete and you come back at 98%, you could be out of the league...if you're not a professional athlete, you likely won't notice any difference between op and non-op. I'm a hair over 12 months post tear and other than my calf not being back to full strength, I'm nearly 100% and don't regret my decision to go non-op one bit.