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Exercise increased microvascular volume in patients with Achilles tendinopathy
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While exercise increased the microvascular volume in patients with Achilles tendinopathy and healthy controls, the patients experienced significantly larger gains at measured time points, according to recent study results.
Researchers conducted a controlled study of nine patents with Achilles tendinopathy (AT; mean age, 53 years; five men) and nine healthy controls (mean age, 54 years; five men), who had real-time harmonic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) measurements taken of the microvascular volume (MV) of the Achilles tendon. CEU analyses were conducted before exercise, after a 1-hour treadmill run and 24 hours after exercise. During the run, surface electromyography (EMG) signals of gastrocnemius were recorded.
After exercise both cohorts displayed significantly increased MV of the Achilles tendon (P<.005). Patients with AT had larger MV signal before, immediately after and 24 hours after the treadmill exercise compared with MV measurements among controls (P<.0001).
Researchers observed that controls had increased EMG amplitudes after the run in the medial and lateral gastrocnemius compared with AT patients indicating differences in muscle activation patterns (P<.0001). Patients also had approximately 15% lower elasticity of the Achilles tendon compared with controls (P<.0001) before the run.
“Acute exercise increases the MV of the Achilles tendon in healthy patients and patients with AT in a similar manner,” the researchers concluded. “However, patients with AT have a significantly larger MV at all time points … supporting the hypothesis that microvascular changes may be involved in the pathogenesis of tendinopathy. This study underlines that tendon flexibility is altered in patients with AT and that CEU is a promising tool to establish the early pathogenesis of tendinopathy.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.
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