Do psychological, cognitive, and contextual factors influence rehab outcomes in Achilles tendinopathy?

This week I talk about a feasibility cohort study which sought to determine whether a larger cohort study addressing this question would be feasible. Listen to hear some interesting preliminary findings.  Merza, E.Y., Pearson, S.J., Mallows, A.J. and Malliaras, P., 2023. The relationship between …

Does high load and high strain exercise have any benefit for Achilles tendinopathy?

We have known for a while that type of exercise intervention (e.g. intensity, frequency, etc) does not seem to influence self-reported outcomes such as pain. Maybe all the benefits from exercise are explained by non-specific effects, or maybe exercise has benefits that do not depend on the type of …

Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy - the forgotten tendinopathy

This week, I had an engaging conversation with Anthony Nasser, an up-and-coming researcher on tendinopathy who recently completed his PhD on proximal hamstring tendinopathy. Our discussion covered the reasons for the lack of research attention towards this condition, the current state of evidence, …

How useful is palpation for diagnosis and assessment?

Palpation can be useful for the diagnosis and assessment of tendinopathy, but there are limits. This is because non-painful tendons can be tender, and tenderness in painful tendons seems to be very slow to get better.  Link to Evidence for Improvement in Local but not Diffuse Pressure Pain Thresho…

Muscle and tendon tuning and implications for tendon rehabilitation

Interesting perspective paper from Arampatzis et al talking about how we should consider tuning of muscle tendon unit in terms of muscle strength and tendon stiffness when considering training for specific groups. 

Achilles forces during common rehab exercises and habitual activities.

This talking tendons episode will discuss a study by Igor Sancho, PhD, assessing Achilles forces during common rehab exercises and habitual activities and how this relates to reported pain among runners. Some interesting implications for practice. Achilles tendon forces and pain during common reha…

Graded exposure in tendinopathy rehabilitation.

In this episode, I am discussing kinesiophobia in the context of tendon rehab and how rehab can be conceptualised as graded exposure for some people.  References 1) Physiotherapy management of Achilles tendinopathy

Load test pain and kinesiophobia and how they interact in tendinopathy assessment

In this episode, I talk about load test pain assessment and how this can also be used to assess kinesiophobia and movement apprehension.  References 1) Physiotherapy management of Achilles tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36274038/ 2) Kinesiophobia Severity Categories and Clinically…

Functional impairments persist in Achilles tendinopathy when people are returning to running

This is an interesting study from the Delaware tendinopathy group among others investigating a host of structural, tissue property, functional and pain factors that may persist among people with Achilles tendinopathy making a return to running. Provides guidance to clinicians about potential impair…

Understanding the patient perspective in Achilles tendinopathy

In this episode I talk about three qualitative studies that aim to understand the patient perspective and patient motivations in Achilles tendinopathy. I find this work really helps clinicians to understand what patients are gong through so we are able to be empathic and help them. Hope you enjoy! …