Summary: Tendinopathy patients may present for treatment with an ultrasound or MRI report in hand, unsure how you can help them, or how they can possibly recover when they have so much tendon pathology. To add insult to injury, they may even have a partial tendon tear on their imaging report thrown into the mix. How do imaging results impact your treatment and your patient's recovery? Are the imaging findings relevant to their pain? In this Physio Edge podcast with Dr Sean Docking (Physiotherapist, PhD), you will explore what information imaging actually provides in your tendinopathy patients, how to explain imaging to your patients, and whether partial tendon tears identified on imaging will effect your treatment. You will also discover: Who develops tendon pathology If patients have tendon pathology on imaging, is this responsible for their symptoms, or will it cause future tendon pain Asymptomatic tendon pathology in sports people How tendon pathology can actually be linked to better performance Can we prevent tendon pathology The advantages and disadvantages of different imaging types, including MRI Ultrasound Ultrasound tissue characterisation (UTC) Why a thickened tendon may actually be helpful in recovery How can we actually diagnose tendinopathy When is imaging useful Differential diagnosis of Achilles pain, including Achilles tendinopathy Paratenonitis Plantaris associated tendinopathy Partial tendon tears, the accuracy of identification, and how they impact your treatment Sports injuries virtual conference As mentioned in this episode Sean presented at the 2017 Sports Injuries virtual conference. His main conference presentation on tendinopathy and imaging discusses: The research around the use for imaging A framework for when and when not to use imaging How to explain imaging findings to patients You can get immediate access to his presentation, and presentations from 13 of the leaders in sports injuries by CLICKING HERE Download this podcast and subscribe on iTunes Links associated with this episode: Get your free access to Sports Injuries presentations with Dr Ebonie Rio, Jack Hickey, Dr Adam Weir, Dr Michael Rathleff, Jo Gibson and Prof Bill Vicenzino Enrol on the 2017 Sports Injuries virtual conference Twitter - @SIDocking Sean Docking - La Trobe University website Sean Docking - Research gate David Pope on Twitter Clinical Edge on Facebook Have a free trial Clinical Edge membership Articles associated with this episode: Alfredson. 2011. Midportion achilles tendinosis and the plantaris tendon Brown et al. 2011. The COL5A1 gene, ultra-marathon running performance and range of motion Docking et al. 2016. Pathological tendons maintain sufficient aligned fibrillar structure on ultrasound tissue characterization (UTC). Docking et al. 2015. Tendinopathy: Is imaging telling us the entire story? Lieberthal et al. 2014. Asymptomatic achilles tendinopathy in male distance runners McAuliffe et al. 2016. Can ultrasound imaging predict the development of Achilles and patellar tendinopathy? A systematic review and meta-analysis Simpson et al. 2016. At What Age Do Children and Adolescents Develop Lower Limb Tendon Pathology or Tendinopathy? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Other episodes of interest: PE 068 - Lower limb tendinopathy loading, running and rehab with Dr Pete Malliaris PE 042 - Treatment of Plantaris and achilles tedninopathy with Seth O’Neil PE041 - Plantaris involvement in achilles tendinopathy with Dr Christoph Spang
