Collegiate Football Player Achilles Tendon Blood Flow Tends to Increase Throughout Time in D1 College Football

Achilles tendon health is crucial for athletic performance, particularly in high-impact sports such as football. Investigating the physiological changes in blood flow that the tendon undergoes as a result of a single training session may provide insight into tendon health and understanding the balance between injury prevention and performance optimization. PURPOSE: The intent of this study is to characterize the blood flow within the Achilles tendon of D1 collegiate football players after exercise. We hypothesize time as a player in a certain D1 college football program influences the amount of blood flow in a player’s Achilles tendons. METHODS: Preexisting ultrasound data from each player on the team were used. Each player’s Achilles tendons were imaged after practice using Power Doppler Imaging (PDI) in order to measure the amount of blood flow in and around the tendon. Blood flow was analyzed quantitatively using an ordinal scale from 0-5. Players were divided into four groups: true freshmen (TF24) (n= 14; ht:188 ± 5.76 cm; wt: 95.5 ± 17.9 kg), players returning from two gap years in 2024 (RM24) (n= 9; Ht: 188 ± 5.30 cm; Wt: 105 ± 19.6 kg), transfers to BYU in 2024 (T24) (n= 9; Ht: 189 ± 6.89 cm; Wt: 108 ± 24.2 kg), and players on team prior to 2024 season (VET) (n= 94; Ht: 189 ± 6.14 cm; Wt: 106 ± 19.4 kg). RESULTS: A Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences between groups (p = 0.035). We then performed a post-hoc Dunn test with Holm correction. The TF24-RM24 difference returned unadj-p = 0.035, adj-p = 0.169. TF24-VET difference showed unadj-p = 0.010, adj-p = 0.063. Among the significant group comparisons, TF24 PDI = 0.6 ± 1.0 and VET PDI = 1.0 ± 0.9. RM24 PDI = 1.16 ± 0.9. CONCLUSION: Although Holm correction renders these values non-statistically significant, this is still likely practically significant because new freshmen appear to have less blood flow after exercise. In the future, we would potentially like to look at age relationship. A potential confounding may be that true freshmen might also be returning from gap years, and the difference may be either an age-related factor or a mass factor rather than a “time in program” factor.