Clinical Trial: Rehabilitation Programs After Achilles Tendon Rupture

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Achilles Tendon Rupture: Comparative Study Between Two Rehabilitation Programs.

Brief Summary:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of early mobilization versus traditional immobilization rehabilitation programs after surgical Achilles tendon repair on the mechanical (torque-angle and torque-velocity relationships) and electrical (neuromuscular activation) properties of the plantar- and dorsiflexor muscles, gastrocnemius medialis morphology (muscle architecture), functional performance, and the mechanical and material properties (force-elongation and stress-strain relationships) of the injured and uninjured Achilles tendon.

The hypothesis is that the early mobilization could reduce the deleterious effects of the joint immobilization and improve the tendon healing.


Detailed Summary:

Participants were allocated into one of two intervention groups (traditional immobilization or early mobilization).

Traditional immobilization group (45 days of plaster cast immobilization; after the immobilization period, subjects received instructions on how to perform a home-based exercise program)

Early mobilization (six weeks of physical therapy program; three times per week; one to two hours of exercises for regaining range of motion and muscular endurance)

Control group (subjects had no history of lower limb injury, and were matched in age and anthropometric measurements to subjects that performed physical rehabilitation and to subjects that remained immobilized.


Sponsor: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Current Primary Outcome: Torque change [ Time Frame: Torque was measured 3 times during the study: three, six and more than 12 months after surgical repair. ]

Torque is an expression of the muscular strength and was assessed by dynamometry


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome: Muscular architecture change [ Time Frame: Muscle architecture was measured 4 times during the study: 45 days, three, six and more than 12 months after surgical repair. ]

Muscular architecture (muscle thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length) was assessed by ultrasonography


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Dates:
Date Received: December 2, 2014
Date Started: March 2008
Date Completion:
Last Updated: December 2, 2014
Last Verified: December 2014