A Diagnostic Ultrasound Study of Collegiate Women's Gymnasts
Open Access
- Author:
- Chambers, Morgan
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sayers John Miller, III, Thesis Supervisor
Jonas Rubenson, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- gymnastics
achilles tendinopathy
injury rate
diagnostic ultrasound - Abstract:
- Objective: Approximately seventeen percent of collegiate gymnasts will rupture their Achilles tendon during their career. Previously tendon thickness and tendon abnormalities, including neovascularization and hypoechogenicity, have been associated with Achilles tendinopathy and rupture. This study aimed to inspect a group of Division 1 collegiate women’s gymnasts’ Achilles tendons through diagnostic ultrasound for morphological structure. Design and Setting: Penn State University (White Building) gymnastics athletic training room Subjects: Seventeen women’s gymnasts volunteered for bilateral B-mode ultrasound examination of their Achilles tendons Measurements: Previous medical history, past characteristics of the gymnast’s career, leg dominance (gymnastics and soccer) and VISA-A scores were all obtained prior to the ultrasound. B-mode ultrasound measurements included the following: cross-sectional area (CSA), calcaneal insertion, midtendon and musculoskeletal junction. The measurements were all taken in the longitudinal and vertical axis for each spot aside from CSA. A probability level of p ≤ 0.05 was set a prior to denote statistical significance. Results: Significant gymnastics dominant to nondominant limb differences were found only for the midtendon long axis measure with the dominant limb measure larger than the nondominant limb measure (MD = 0.67, p = 0.00). Forward stepwise multiple linear regression using averaged limb data found significant models for midtendon long plane (R2 = 0.327, F[1,14] = 6.305 , p = 0.026) and mid tendon short plane (R2 = 0.560, F[2,14] =7.631 , p = 0.007) measures with a history of low back injury a predictive variable in both and competing in floor exercise an additional predictor for short plane thickness. Significant models were also found for the dominant (R2 = 0.328, F[1,14] = 6.336 , p = 0.026) and nondominant (R2 = 0.725 F[3,14] = 9.656, p = 0.002) midtendon long plane measurements with a history of low back injury a predictor in both and competing in floor exercise and hours of training in high school additional predictors in the nondominant limb. Conclusions: The gymnastics dominant leg Achilles tendon was found to be thicker than the nondominant leg indicating adaptive remodeling or processes related tendinosis in response to loading. With averaged limb data, we found a history of a low back injury to be a consistent significant predictor of tendon thickness with competing in floor exercise and hours of training in high school additional predictors in some analyses. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between low back injury, participation in floor exercises, and hours of training per week in high school, and Achilles thickness using structural measures and functional testing. The gymnastics dominant leg should be considered in future analyses.