EMG Monitoring During Functional Non-Surgical Therapy of Achilles Tendon Rupture

Abstract

After surgical therapy of Achilles tendon rupture, neuromuscular changes may persist, even one year after surgery. ⁷ We were interested whether these changes are also evident following a non-surgical functional therapy (Variostabil therapy boot/Adidas®). Twenty-one patients with complete Achilles tendon rupture were enrolled in the study (mean age 38.5 years, range 24 to 60; 18 men, three women) and followed-up clinically and with surface EMG of the gastrocnemius muscles after four, eight, 12 weeks, and one year after rupture. EMG differences between the affected and non-affected side could only be observed at baseline and after four weeks following Achilles tendon rupture. The results from our study show that EMG changes are not found following non-surgical functional therapy.