Elastographic Findings of Achilles Tendons in Asymptomatic Professional Male Volleyball Players.

OBJECTIVES: Elastography is a new sonographic technique that evaluates the elasticity of different tissues such as the Achilles tendon. In this study, we aimed to investigate the elastographic findings of Achilles tendons in professional athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers.

METHODS: Twenty-one professional male volleyball players with no history of Achilles trauma were included in this study. Twenty-one healthy male volunteers with similar ages and body mass indices were selected as control participants. All participants underwent sonographic and elastographic evaluations of the Achilles tendons to evaluate Achilles tendon thickness and stiffness.

RESULTS: We observed thickening in many of the thirds of the Achilles tendons (right proximal, right middle, left middle, and left distal thirds) of athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers. We did not detect any abnormalities according to the sonographic evaluations in both athletes and healthy volunteers. In the elastographic evaluations, we observed softening in the middle thirds of the Achilles tendons of athletes according to the main types (P < .001) and subtypes (P < .001 for right; and P = .002 for left middle third). There was no difference observed in the elastographic evaluations of the proximal and distal thirds.

CONCLUSIONS: On sonography and elastography, we observed thickening and softening in Achilles tendons of athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers who had similar ages and body mass indices. These changes could be associated with early tendon degeneration. Further longitudinal studies may support this consideration.