Find volunteers with healthy Achilles tendons

To find out, he will use innovative ultrasound to make scans of 400 previously undamaged Achilles tendons. The people who will resonate may be of all kinds: man, woman, old, young, fat, thin and of all nationalities, orientations and gender identities, working throughout Erasmus MC. The most important condition: You should never have any complaints of the Achilles tendon.

Schleswig-Visser is conducting the study with sports doctor Robert Jan de Vos. The ultimate goal of their study is to determine what a healthy Achilles tendon looks like: how long is it, how thick is it, and what does the tendon look like? For example, are there differences between the Achilles tendons of a middle-aged man and a woman in her 30s? And are there differences between the Achilles tendons of people with sedentary occupations and people who walk and/or exercise a lot?

leg muscles

In order to properly study all this, the leg muscle strength of all participants is also measured. For example, what would be considered normal and average calf strength and whether there is a possible relationship between calf muscle strength and Achilles tendon structure will be examined.

For the study, participants fill out a questionnaire (5 minutes of work) and visit the research room at Schleswijk Visser at Erasmus MC. He performs an ultrasound of the Achilles tendon. Then the participants do some exercises that measure the strength of the calf muscles. Generally, the survey takes 20-25 minutes.

infection

Tendon disease (tendinopathy) is a literal Achilles heel for patients and caregivers. This is especially true for runners. “About half of runners will have Achilles tendon problems at some point. Most often, overloading is the cause, although it is not the only risk factor. About a third of patients with inactive problems. Other factors play a role in That,” says Schleswig Fisherman. “This injury can persist, especially if proper treatment is not given, or if the wrong exercises are done or not. Then this injury can persist for 10 years.”

By: National Care Guide