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Psychological Factors Change During the Rehabilitation of an Achilles Tendon Rupture: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The authors sought to gain insight into the changes in psychological factors during rehabilitation after Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) and to explore the association between psychological factors during rehabilitation and functional outcome 12 months after ATR.

Methods

Fifty patients clinically diagnosed with ATR were invited to visit the hospital 3, 6, and 12 months after injury for data collection. They completed questionnaires assessing psychological factors: psychological readiness to return to sport (Injury Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Questionnaire); kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia); expectations, motivation, and outcome measures related to symptoms and physical activity (Achilles Tendon Total Rupture Score); and sports participation and performance (Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre Overuse Injury Questionnaire). To determine whether psychological factors changed over time, generalized estimating equation analyses were performed. Multivariate regression analyses were used to study the association between psychological factors at 3, 6, and 12 months and outcome measures at 12 months after ATR.

Results

Psychological readiness to return to sport improved, and kinesiophobia decreased significantly during rehabilitation. Psychological readiness at 6 and 12 months showed significant associations with sports participation and performance. Kinesiophobia at 6 months was significantly associated with symptoms and physical activity. Motivation remained high during rehabilitation and was highly associated with symptoms and physical activity, sports participation, and performance.

Conclusion

Psychological factors change during rehabilitation after ATR. Patients with lower motivation levels during rehabilitation, low psychological readiness to return to sports, and/or high levels of kinesiophobia at 6 months after ATR need to be identified.

Impact

According to these results, psychological factors can affect the rehabilitation of patients with ATR. Physical therapists can play an important role in recognizing patients with low motivation levels and low psychological readiness for return to sport and patients with high levels of kinesiophobia at 6 months post-ATR. Physical therapist interventions to enhance motivation and psychological readiness to return to sport and to reduce kinesiophobia need to be developed and studied in the post-ATR population.

Lay summary

With Achilles tendon rupture, level of motivation, psychological readiness for return to sport, and fear of movement can affect rehabilitation outcome. A physical therapist can help recognize these factors.

SUBMITTER: Slagers AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8697845 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectiveProfessional Basketball players are at high risk of Achilles tendon rupture. Despite this, there remains limited research into the factors affecting rehabilitation and the long term outcomes of these players. Our aim is to quantify the effect of a player's Achilles tendon rupture on their post-injury performance, and also to explore for correlations between their recovery timeline and pre-injury characteristics. Creation of an injury timeline of past incidents will allow injured players to better track their progress and also inform them about the probable impact on their careers.HypothesisPlayers with Achilles tendon rupture injury will exhibit decreased performance compared to their pre-injury self and their non-injured peers after recovery.MethodsProfessional basketball players who sustained a unilateral Achilles tendon rupture from 1992 to 2016 were collected. 12 players met our inclusion criteria and their Player Efficiency Ratings (PER) were obtained as primary outcome measures; matched controls were chosen based on the PER, Age and playing position. The players' index season PER was compared against the PER during the 10 games immediately following the players' return and the PER of their post-injury peak performing season. The same data analysis was performed against their control group. To investigate the factors affecting the recovery and long-term consequences of their injury, we correlated the variables of Age, BMI, Time of Injury and pre-injury PER with the player's time to return to play and their post-injury PER.Results2 out of 12 players failed to return to playing in the elite professional league following an Achilles Tendon Rupture, others returned after a mean recovery time of 10 months. When compared to players' index PER, the mean PER reduction during the 10 games immediately following the players' return was 7.15 (P < .000). Players on average took 1.8 seasons to reach their post-injury peak performance, with only 1 player returning to his pre-injury performance. Others suffered a mean PER reduction of 3.5 (P = .004) when compared to their index PER and 5.4 (P = .045) against their matched controls.ConclusionAchilles tendon rupture can be a career-ending injury for professional basketball players. They are expected to miss 10 months for rehabilitation and reach their post-injury peak performance level at the 2nd season back. The post-injury peak performance is significantly worse than the pre-injury level, but is similar to matched non-injured players.

Project description:Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain functional limitations during-low-force-walking gait. To explore the potential limits imposed by the remodeled GM muscle-tendon unit (MTU) on walking gait, we examined the contractile behavior of muscle fascicles during the stance phase. In a cross-sectional design, we studied nine former patients (males; age: 45 ± 9 years; height: 180 ± 7 cm; weight: 83 ± 6 kg) with a history of complete unilateral ATR, approximately 4 years post-surgery. Using ultrasonography, GM tendon morphology, muscle architecture at rest, and fascicular behavior were assessed during walking at 1.5 m⋅s-1 on a treadmill. Walking patterns were recorded with a motion capture system. The unaffected leg served as control. Lower limbs kinematics were largely similar between legs during walking. Typical features of ATR-related MTU remodeling were observed during the stance sub-phases corresponding to series elastic element (SEE) lengthening (energy storage) and SEE shortening (energy release), with shorter GM fascicles (36 and 36%, respectively) and greater pennation angles (8° and 12°, respectively). However, relative to the optimal fascicle length for force production, fascicles operated at comparable length in both legs. Similarly, when expressed relative to optimal fascicle length, fascicle contraction velocity was not different between sides, except at the time-point of peak series elastic element (SEE) length, where it was 39 ± 49% lower in the affected leg. Concomitantly, fascicles rotation during contraction was greater in the affected leg during the whole stance-phase, and architectural gear ratios (AGR) was larger during SEE lengthening. Under the present testing conditions, former ATR patients had recovered a relatively symmetrical walking gait pattern. Differences in seen AGR seem to accommodate the profound changes in MTU architecture, limiting the required fascicle shortening velocity. Overall, the contractile behavior of the GM fascicles does not restrict length- or velocity-dependent force potentials during this locomotor task.

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