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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 36/3/451    most recent 0363546507310073v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fredberg, U. Articles by Andersen, N. T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fredberg, U. Articles by Andersen, N. T. Related Collections Imaging Studies Achilles tendon Knee Rehabilitation/Training Soccer

Prophylactic Training in Asymptomatic Soccer Players With Ultrasonographic Abnormalities in Achilles and Patellar Tendons

The Danish Super League Study

Ulrich Fredberg, MD^,,*, Lars Bolvig, MD and Niels T. Andersen, MSc, PhD

From Stadium Clinic, Atletion, House of Sport West, Aarhus, Denmark, Department of Medicine, Region Hospital Silkeborg, Silkeborg, Denmark, and Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

^* Address correspondence to Ulrich Fredberg, MD, Oestermarksvej 29, DK-8381 Tilst, Denmark (e-mail: Fredberg{at}sportnetdoc.dk).

Background: A recent study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that asymptomatic soccer players with an increased risk of developing Achilles and patellar tendon injuries within the next 12 months can be identified with use of ultrasonography.

Hypothesis: Prophylactic eccentric training and stretching can reduce both the frequency of asymptomatic ultrasonographic changes in Achilles and patellar tendons in soccer players and the risk of these asymptomatic intratendinous changes becoming symptomatic.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1.

Methods: Two hundred and nine Danish professional soccer players from the best national league (Super League) were followed over 12 months with use of ultrasonography and injury registration. Half the teams were randomized to an intervention group with prophylactic eccentric training and stretching of the Achilles and patellar tendons during the soccer season.

Results: The eccentric training and stretching did not reduce the injury risk, and, contrary to all expectations, the injury risk during the season was increased in players with abnormal patellar tendons at the beginning of the study in January. Eccentric training and stretching in players with normal patellar tendons significantly reduced the proportion of players with ultrasonographic changes in the patellar tendons at the end of the season (risk difference [RD] = 12%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2%–22%; P = .02), but the training had no effect on the Achilles tendons (RD = 1%; 95% CI, –7% to 9%; P = .75). The presence of preseason ultrasonographic abnormalities in the tendons significantly increased the risk of developing tendon symptoms during the season (relative risk = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2–3.1; P = .009).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that with the use of ultrasonography, tendon changes in soccer players can be diagnosed before they become symptomatic. The prophylactic eccentric training and stretching program reduces the risk of developing ultrasonographic abnormalities in the patellar tendons but has no positive effects on the risk of injury. On the contrary, in asymptomatic players with ultrasonographically abnormal patellar tendons, prophylactic eccentric training and stretching increased the injury risk.

Key Words: Achilles • patellar • tendinopathy • eccentric training • ultrasonography • stretching