Effectiveness of Tecar Therapy in Patients With Chronic Achilles Tendinopathy

NCT05539586 | Unknown DMC

• 1 other identifier: CBSCFCTEC
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Achilles tendinopathy is characterized by pain, decreased performance and swelling in and around the tendon. Up to 29% of patients with Achilles tendinopathy may require surgical intervention. It can be complicated by partial tears or complete rupture, placing a long-term burden on the healthcare system and making treatment more difficult. The most common location of Achilles tendinopathy is in the insertional area of the calcaneus, 1.5 to 2 cm cranial to the bone. The most common location of pathologic inflammation was at the fascial intersection of the medial gastrocnemius and soleus when fused with the proximal Achilles tendon (66% of patients and the distal part of the Achilles tendon near the calcaneus. The four cornerstones of tendon histopathology are: cellular activation and increased cell number, increased ground substance, collagen disorganization and neovascularization. In addition, blood supply is one of the most influential factors in tendon tissue repair. A recent clinical trial compared the outcome after low frequency microwave hyperthermia with traditional ultrasound. The hyperthermia group recorded significantly better results after treatment and one month later. The use of deep heating modalities, due to their beneficial effects of increased circulation and cellular metabolism resulting in increased waste and nutrient exchange in a specific area, has long been accepted as part of the treatment of overuse tendinopathies . The application of heat has been reported to improve blood flow and oxygen saturation in the Achilles tendon.Physical therapies based on electrical or electromagnetic stimulation have been used in rehabilitation, in some cases combining electrical therapy with radiofrequency. Specifically, resistive capacitive electrical transfer therapy (CRet) has been used in physical rehabilitation and sports medicine to treat muscle, bone, ligament and tendon injuries. CRet is a non-invasive electrothermal therapy classified as deep thermotherapy, which is based on the application of electrical currents within the radiofrequency range of 300 kHz - 1.2 MHz. he effects attributed to this technique include increased deep and superficial blood circulation, vasodilatation, increased temperature, elimination of excess fluid and increased cell proliferation. Some of these reactions, such as increased blood perfusion, are known to be related to the increase in temperature, but others, such as increased cell proliferation, appear to be primarily related to the passage of current. There are currently numerous treatment proposals for this pathology, however, the only one that has shown significant improvements are eccentric exercise protocols. The only drawback of this type of exercise is that the results are obtained in the long term. There is currently no study that has compared the effectiveness of adding a tecartherapy protocol to the eccentric exercise protocol in chronic Achilles tendinopathy in athletes in the short and medium term in both functional and structural variables.

Conditions

Achilles Tendinopathy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in numerical pain rating scale (0-10)

  EVA pain scale will be used, where the patient will tell us the pain in numerical form.

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

• Change in visual analogue scale (0-100 mm)

  EVA pain scale will be used, where the patient will point on a fingertip on a straight line without numbers which has been his perception of pain.

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Strength (kilograms)

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

• Ankle range of motion in loading (degrees)

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

• VISA-A questionnaire

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

• GROC scale

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

• Cross-sectional area (mm2)

  Baseline; 3 weeks follow-up; 7 weeks follow-up

Study Arms (2)

Tecar group

EXPERIMENTAL

Other: Tecartherapy

Sham Group

SHAM COMPARATOR

Other: Sham

Interventions

Tecartherapy OTHER

Patients will receive therapeutic exercise sessions for 7 weeks and 7 tecartherapy sessions.

Tecar group

Sham OTHER

Patients will receive therapeutic exercise sessions for 7 weeks and 7 sessions of simulated tecartherapy.

Sham Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Study participants must have signed the informed consent form in order to evaluate their participation in the study.
• Actively practice some sporting activity.
• Have a medical diagnosis of chronic Achilles tendinopathy of more than 3 months of evolution.
• Not having previously received any tecartherapy treatment.
• Be over 18 years of age.

You may not qualify if:

• Volunteers who have suffered a sports injury during the last two months or are unable to perform physical activity.
• Subjects with bilateral tendinopathies.
• Subjects who report allergies to the conductive cream.
• Not understanding the information provided by the therapist.
• Participating in other research studies.
• Subjects undergoing pharmacological medical treatment that may interfere with the measurements, such as treatment with anticonvulsants, antidepressants.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universitat Internacional de Catalunya: lead

MeSH Terms

Interventions

salicylhydroxamic acid

Central Study Contacts

Jacobo Rodríguez-Sanz, PhD

CONTACT

636136789; jrodriguezs@uic.es

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2022
• First Posted: September 14, 2022
• Study Start: December 1, 2022
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2024
• Study Completion: September 1, 2024
• Last Updated: September 14, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-09