Asymmetric running is associated with pain during outdoor running in individuals with Achilles tendinopathy in the return-to-sport phase.
Kayla D Seymore, Patrick Corrigan, Haraldur B Sigurðsson and 2 others
PMID 38460486WHAT IT FOUND
Runners with Achilles pain who shifted load to the healthy leg reported more pain, especially on consecutive run days.
However, the total number of runs over two weeks did not worsen symptoms. Recovery days may help manage pain, but run frequency itself was not harmful.
Key findings
01Greater pain in the injured leg was associated with longer ground contact time on the healthy leg, and this link strengthened with more consecutive days of running.
02The total number of running bouts over two weeks was not related to changes in symptom severity when adjusting for total distance run.
03Ground contact time asymmetry explained less than 5% of the variance in tendon pain, suggesting other factors like speed or surface are more influential.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (17 participants) and the observation period was only two weeks, which is short relative to the months-long return-to-sport phase. Participants had low baseline symptom severity (average VISA-A score of 78), which may have limited the ability to detect meaningful changes in symptoms. The study included runners with both unilateral and bilateral tendinopathy, which could affect the interpretation of loading asymmetries. Sensor validation showed a 7% margin of error for ground contact time, which may have introduced noise into the data. The analysis did not account for factors like running speed, surface type, or incline, which likely influence pain and loading.
Declared interests
The text does not report any conflicts of interest or funding sources.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that reducing running frequency is necessary for all patients. The study found that the number of running bouts did not worsen symptoms over two weeks. Pain was linked to asymmetrical loading patterns, not simply the volume of running. Avoid generalizing these short-term findings to long-term recovery or performance.