Achilles tendon structure is associated with regular running volume and biomechanics

ABSTRACT

Achilles tendinopathy was reported to have the highest incidence proportion of all running-related injuries. The purpose of this study was to analyse the association between the Achilles tendon structure and running activity status. 350 healthy participants (runners and inactive controls, 30-50 years) participated in this research. Each participant completed questionnaires: socioeconomic, psychological, physical activity habits, running status and history and VISA-A. Magnetic resonance imaging, anthropological, running biomechanics and 14 days of physical activity monitoring assessments were performed. There was a higher odd of being in the upper quartile of the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time with higher maximal knee extension moment independent of age and sex. Compared with runners who ran 21–40 km per week, non-runners and those who ran more than 40 km per week had increased odds of having longest the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time. Regular running of 21 to 40 km per week is related to the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time indicating possibly better water content and collagen orientation in these runners with compare to inactive non-runners or highly active individuals. In addition, Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time as indirect indicator of the Achilles tendon structure was positively related to the maximal knee extension moment during running.

KEYWORDS:

• Magnetic resonance imaging
• T2* relaxation time
• Middle age
• Sex

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the 4HAIE project whole team for their hard and excellent work in conducting the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Contributorship

DJ, JH, VKJ, JU, SE obtained funding for this project and were responsible for the design of this study. JS, DV conducted data collection. VKJ, VJ, DV, DJ conducted data analysis, DJ, JH, AM, VKJ, VJ interpreted findings. DJ wrote the initial draft of the manuscript, SE, DV and JH wrote critical revision, final manuscript was then revised and approved by all authors.

Ethical approval information

Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Ostrava (Application EK 3/2018) with written informed consent obtained from all participants.

Data availability statement

Data presented in the paper can be found at www.4HAIE.cz

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was co-funded by European Union and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000798 Program 4 Healthy Aging in Industrial Environment