Knowledge of how to treat chronic tendinopathy has advanced in recent years, but the treatment of early tendinopathy is not well understood. The main purpose of this prospective observational study was to investigate if changes occur in clinical and imaging outcomes over 12 weeks in elite athletes with recent debut of tendinopathy. Sixty‐five elite adult athletes (24 ± 5 years) with early Achilles or patellar tendinopathy (symptoms < 3 months) were examined at baseline and after 12 weeks. Patients were divided into groups based on the duration of symptoms at the time of inclusion: (T1): 0–1 month, (T2): 1–2 months, or (T3): 2–3 months. Pain‐guided activity modification was the only intervention. We assessed the following clinical outcomes: Questionnaires (Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment (VISA)) and pain scores (0–10 numeric rating scale, NRS), structural outcomes from ultrasonography: Thickness, echogenicity, and Doppler flow, and from magnetic resonance imaging: Cross‐sectional area (CSA), thickness and length. Tendinopathic Achilles and patellar tendons displayed no significant differences on imaging tendon structural outcomes between T1 (n = 19), T2 (n = 23), and T3 (n = 20) at baseline or after 12 weeks, with one exception: Patellar tendons in T1 were thicker than T2 and T3 at baseline. Although athletes improved clinically on VISA and most NRS scores after 12 weeks, affected tendons with greater thickness, CSA and Doppler flow than contralateral tendons at baseline remained unchanged after 12 weeks. In conclusion, these data suggest that early tendinopathy in elite athletes can improve clinically after 12 weeks while morphology remains unchanged.

中文翻译：

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患有早期肌腱病的优秀运动员 12 周内的临床和影像学结果


近年来，人们对如何治疗慢性肌腱病的认识有所进步，但早期肌腱病的治疗尚不清楚。这项前瞻性观察研究的主要目的是调查最近首次出现肌腱病的精英运动员在 12 周内的临床和影像学结果是否发生变化。 65 名患有早期跟腱或髌腱病（3 个月症状 <）的精英成年运动员（24 ± 5 岁）在基线时和 12 周后接受了检查。根据纳入时症状的持续时间将患者分为几组：(T1)：0-1 个月，(T2)：1-2 个月，或 (T3)：2-3 个月。疼痛引导的活动调整是唯一的干预措施。我们评估了以下临床结果：问卷（维多利亚运动评估研究所 (VISA)）和疼痛评分（0-10 数字评分量表，NRS）、超声检查的结构结果：厚度、回声性和多普勒血流，以及磁共振成像的结构结果：横截面积 (CSA)、厚度和长度。在基线或 12 周后，肌腱病性跟腱和髌腱在 T1 (n = 19)、T2 (n = 23) 和 T3 (n = 20) 之间的成像肌腱结构结果上没有显着差异，但有一个例外：基线时 T1 比 T2 和 T3 厚。尽管运动员在 12 周后在 VISA 和大多数 NRS 评分上有了临床改善，但在基线时厚度、CSA 和多普勒血流比对侧肌腱更大的受影响肌腱在 12 周后仍然保持不变。总之，这些数据表明，精英运动员的早期肌腱病可以在 12 周后临床改善，同时形态保持不变。