Blood Flow Observed in the Majority of Gymnasts’ Achilles and Patellar Tendons Despite Their Years of Experience

Gymnasts frequently suffer from tendinopathy. Additionally, time of participation in gymnastics may increase the risk of tendinopathy. Neovascularization is associated with tendinopathy of the body as it attempts to heal. Neovascularization of the Achilles and patellar tendons can be assessed using intra-tendinous Power Doppler Imaging (PDI) via ultrasound. Exercise and training increases blood flow; thus we sought to measure blood flow post-exercise when blood flow was potentially the highest. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the gymnasts’ years of experience was associated with the blood flow to the Achilles and patellar tendons post-exercise. METHODS: Twenty-four female gymnasts (age: 20.0 ± 1.6 yrs, weight: 57.8 ± 5.7 kg, height: 159.5 ± 6.2 cm, years of experience: 15.6 ± 1.7 yrs) had their right and left Achilles and patellar tendons imaged using ultrasound, post-exercise. Blood flow was imaged using PDI and assessed along the length of the tendon. Using a scale established by Arias-Buria, et al (2020), a score was assigned to each image on a scale from 0 - 5 to determine how much blood flow was in the tendon. Gymnasts were given one point for each tendon with a score > 0. No scores were greater than a 3. RESULTS: There was one gymnast that did not have any score above zero. The rest of the gymnasts (95.83%) had at least one score higher than zero. There were three gymnasts with increased blood flow in one tendon, four gymnasts with increased blood flow in two tendons, nine gymnasts with three tendons, and seven with all four tendons. A linear regression showed that the years of gymnastics experience did not influence the number of tendons in which blood flow was observed (R2 =0.036, p = 0.3747). CONCLUSION: The results indicated a nonsignificant association between the gymnasts’ years of experience and their PDI tally scores. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of gymnasts demonstrated blood flow post-exercise within these tendons, suggesting that the athletes are in a state of remodeling/recovery post-exercise. Further research could be performed as to why some gymnasts have more blood flow within their tendons in their Achilles and patellar tendons.