Presentation, Diagnosis, and Nonsurgical Treatment Options of the Anterior Tibial Tendon, Posterior Tibial Tendon, Peroneals, and Achilles

Peronealsehnenverletzungen

Hintergrund

Verletzungen der Peronealsehnen gelten als häufig unterdiagnostizierte Ursache lateraler Rückfußschmerzen. Prädisponierende Ursachen sind u. a. eine chronische laterale Instabilität sowie ein Rückfußvarus, da dies zu einer Überbelastung der Peronealsehnen führt. Klinisch äußern sich Peronealsehnenverletzungen meist unspezifisch mit lateralen Rückfußschmerzen.

Material und Methoden

In der Untersuchung zeigen sich Schmerzen bei Aktivierung der Sehnen gegen Widerstand. Die Sonographie zur Diagnostik bietet die Möglichkeit einer dynamischen Untersuchung, in der Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) können gleichzeitig weitere Strukturen beurteilt werden. Zu unterscheiden sind eine Tendinopathie der Sehnen, eine Instabilität mit Luxation oder Subluxation verbunden mit Pathologien des superioren Peronealsehnenretinakulums sowie Längssplit und komplette Sehnenruptur. Bei Tendinopathien und Längsrissen erfolgt die Therapie primär konservativ. Ein kompletter Riss und eine Läsion über 50 % sollten operativ versorgt und, falls möglich, direkt genäht werden. Alternativ sind eine Tenodese oder ein Sehnenersatz mit einem Graft zu evaluieren.

Ergebnisse

Bei Patienten mit einer Peronealsehneninstabilität führen die Naht oder Rekonstruktion des superioren Peronealsehnenretinakulums zu guten Resultaten. Eine frühe Therapie zeigt eine bessere Heilungschance und kann somit zu einem besseren Outcome führen.

Schlussfolgerung

Zusammenfassend kann gesagt werden, dass bei chronischen lateralen Rückfußschmerzen an eine Peronealsehnenverletzung gedacht und bei Verdacht auf eine Läsion eine MRT oder eine Sonographie zur Bestätigung respektive Ausschluss der Diagnose durchgeführt werden sollte.

Current understanding of the diagnosis and management of the tendinopathy: An update from the lab to the clinical practice

Tendinopathy is labeled by many authors as a troublesome, common pathology, present in up to 30% medical care consultations involving musculoskeletal conditions. Despite the lasting interest for addressing tendon pathology, current researchers agree that even the exact definition of the term tendinopathy is unclear. Tendinopathy is currently diagnosed as a clinical hypothesis based on the patient symptoms and physical context. One of the main goals of current clinical management is to personalize treatment approaches to adapt them to the many different needs of the population. Tendons are complex structures that unite muscles and bones with two main objectives: to transmit forces and storage and release energy. Regarding the tensile properties of the tendons, several authors argued that tendons have higher tensile strength compared with muscles, however, are considered less flexible. Tendinopathy is an accepted term which is used to indicated a variety of tissue conditions that appear in injured tendons and describes a non-rupture damage in the tendon or paratendon, which is intensified with mechanical loading Even when the pathoetiology of tendinopathy is unclear, there is a wide array of treatments available to treat and manage tendinopathy. Although tendinitis usually debuts with an inflammatory response, the majority of chronic tendinopathies do not present inflammation and so the choosing of treatment should vary depending on severity, compliance, pain and duration of symptoms. The purpose of this article is to review and provide an overview about the currently research of the tendon diagnosis, management and etiology.

The clinical diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy: a scoping review

Background

Achilles tendinopathy describes the clinical presentation of pain localised to the Achilles tendon and associated loss of function with tendon loading activities. However, clinicians display differing approaches to the diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy due to inconsistency in the clinical terminology, an evolving understanding of the pathophysiology, and the lack of consensus on clinical tests which could be considered the gold standard for diagnosing Achilles tendinopathy. The primary aim of this scoping review is to provide a method for clinically diagnosing Achilles tendinopathy that aligns with the nine core health domains.

Methodology

A scoping review was conducted to synthesise available evidence on the clinical diagnosis and clinical outcome measures of Achilles tendinopathy. Extracted data included author, year of publication, participant characteristics, methods for diagnosing Achilles tendinopathy and outcome measures.

Results

A total of 159 articles were included in this scoping review. The most commonly used subjective measure was self-reported location of pain, while additional measures included pain with tendon loading activity, duration of symptoms and tendon stiffness. The most commonly identified objective clinical test for Achilles tendinopathy was tendon palpation (including pain on palpation, localised tendon thickening or localised swelling). Further objective tests used to assess Achilles tendinopathy included tendon pain during loading activities (single-leg heel raises and hopping) and the Royal London Hospital Test and the Painful Arc Sign. The VISA-A questionnaire as the most commonly used outcome measure to monitor Achilles tendinopathy. However, psychological factors (PES, TKS and PCS) and overall quality of life (SF-12, SF-36 and EQ-5D-5L) were less frequently measured.

Conclusions

There is significant variation in the methodology and outcome measures used to diagnose Achilles tendinopathy. A method for diagnosing Achilles tendinopathy is proposed, that includes both results from the scoping review and recent recommendations for reporting results in tendinopathy.

Prevalence of Abnormal Ultrasound Findings in Asymptomatic Posterior Tibial Tendons

BACKGROUND

Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) is a pathological condition that can cause failure of the posterior tibial tendon (PTT). Initially, patients with PTTD are often asymptomatic, making early identification and treatment challenging. Certain ultrasound (US) characteristics have been implicated in the presence of tendinopathy, but their frequency has yet to be assessed in the PTT. The purpose of this study was to identify and report on the frequency of incidental, or potentially early subclinical, tendinopathic US characteristics in asymptomatic PTTs.

METHODS

Following institutional review board approval, 150 participants underwent a bilateral-comprehensive US assessment. The resulting images were reviewed and assessed to identify the presence of abnormalities demonstrated to represent tendinopathy.

RESULTS

Overall, 266 tendons were assessed and 128 (48.1%) were determined to have at least one tendinopathic trait. Specifically, 51 (19.2%) had circumferential fluid, 69 (25.9%) had noncircumferential fluid, 22 (8.3%) had thickening, 31 (11.7%) had heterogenicity, 19 (7.1%) had hyperemia, and 2 (0.8%) had calcification. Additionally, Caucasian participants were found to be nearly 3 times more likely to have tendinopathic findings when compared with African American participants.

CONCLUSION

Sixty-seven percent of participants and 48.1% of PTTs evaluated had at least one tendinopathic feature identified on US. The prevalence rates of these findings, observed in participants, were as follows: noncircumferential fluid, circumferential fluid, heterogenicity, and thickening. Knowing the frequency of these traits may help clinicians to identify subclinical tendinopathy in the PTT before it progresses to PTTD.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level IV, case series.