Lecture 8 - Tendon Injuries Flashcards
What is the structure of a tendon?
made up of collagen tissue that connects muscle to bone
What does a tendon do?
Transfers force from muscle into skeletal system
What is the myotendinous junction?
connection between the tendon and the muscle
What is an enthesis?
Junction between tendon and bone, made up of fibrocartilage
How do tendons adapt to training?
They increase their cross-sectional area, but they take way longer than muscle to gain tendon strength (after 3 months, some structural changes, after 6 months, larger cross-sectional area)
What are the 2 types of overuse tendon injuries?
Enthesopathy: affects the enthesis
Tendinopathy: umbrella term used for tendon problems
What are the 2 types of acute tendon injury?
direct trauma
rupture
What is the mechanism, symptoms and signs of enthesopathy?
mechanism: overuse, repetitive loading (could be trauma)
symptoms and signs:
- inflammation, degeneration or calcification of the attachment point
- pain and dysfunction
What is the mechanism, symptoms and signs of tendinopathy?
mechanism:
- repetitive tensile (or compressive) loading (sprinting, landing, direction changes) –> causes microtraumas
- inadequate recovery between loadings
signs and symptoms:
- at first pain after exercise
- then at start of an activity
- ten during and after activity
What is the mechanism, risk factors, symptoms and signs of achilles tendon rupture?
mechanism: strong contracture of the lower leg musculature with simultaneous extension (eccentric loading of the tendon)
symptoms and signs:
- acute, intense pain
- audible ‘snap’
- bruise and swelling
- reduced power in plantarflexion
- ‘gap’ in tendon tissue
risk factors:
- mid-aged recreational athletes
What are some intrinsic risk factors for tendon injuries?
- older age
- male sex
- menopause
- genetics
- systematic conditions
- medication
- biomechanics
- previous injury
What are some extrinsic risk factors for tendon injuries?
- training loads
- spike in loads
- periods of deconditioning
- biomechanical change
According to the tendinopathy article, how should we go about management of tendinopathy?
- education of patients
- load monitoring
- pain monitoring
- exercise based progressive rehab program
Outline the stages of the exercise based rehab program for low limb tendinopathy talked about in the paper.
Stage 1: isometric exercises everyday to relieve pain
Stage 2: isotonic and heavy slow resistance training to improve tendon stiffness and strength. continue doing isometric exercises
Stage 3: increase in speed and energy STORAGE exercises like single jumps. continue doing isometric and isotonic exercises
Stage 4: energy STORAGE AND RELEASE and sport specific exercises like repeated jumps and direction changes. continue doing isometric and isotonic exercises
What is the number 1 treatment for tendon therapies?
Exercise therapy
