Title : Running surfaces affect Achilles tendon structural integrity among long distance runners
Abstract:
Objective: To investigate Achilles tendon structure and functional tests in road and trail runners.
Methods: The study included 26 road and17 trail runners. All running at least 3 times per week with a minimum of 20km per week and had participated in running competitions over 2 years. Each participant was examined for Achilles tendon structure (via ultrasound tissue characterization (UTC) imaging) and functional tests in addition to demographical questionnaire. Main Outcome Measure included: The percentages of Echo types I, II, III and IV within the tendon, tendon length and width, tendon cross sectional area (via UTC imaging); ankle inversion movement discrimination ability (via AMEDA device); dynamic postural balance (via Y balance test); jumping performance (by triple hop distance test) and hip muscle abduction muscle strength (by hand held dynamometry).
Results: Significant difference in the distributions of the four echo-types in the UTC examination was found between groups. Percentage of echo-types I was significantly lower while echo-types II was higher in the road group compared with trail group (67.3%, 28.9% and 74.15%,22.1%, respectively) (p<0.001). No significant differences between genders and groups was found for other tests.
Conclusions: Tendon integrity as examined with UTC is different between road and trail runners. This suggest an influence of running surface on Achilles tendon structure.
