Effect of Stretching Exercise on Recovery of Quadriceps Tendinosis: A Case Study
摘要
Tendinopathy is the commonly presented clinical musculoskeletal cause, where an athlete or a sporting person will face discomfort/localized pain due to excess load and overuse of a tendon. The recovery and management of tendinosis is a huge challenge till today in the field of sports due to lack of comprehension on tendon pathology and physiology. In this study, we tried to propose a modality in management of quadriceps tendinosis (QT) with stretching exercises. This case study aims to evaluate the impact of a 4-week stretching regimen on mild QT in a 23-year-old state level footballer. After an initial imaging-based diagnosis, QT in the left leg of the subject is reported. The subject was given a regular stretching exercise as part of a 4-week programme in order to manage and recover from tendinosis. Every week, a series of tests were conducted to evaluate the balance, lower limb strength and biomarker test for muscle injury. The athlete had a one-day break for rest and recovery in a week. We found that the static squat time, squat number and dynamic balance all significantly increased (p ≤ 0.05) after 4 week of training. The static balancing test (p ≥ 0.05) shows no significant results in contrast. However, we found that serum creatine kinase (CK) level which is a potent biomarker for muscle injury significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.05). Post-intervention QT presentation and symptoms by the subject were not reported, and the same was supported with image-based diagnosis. In sum, our 4-week stretching exercise regime may benefit the sporting persons in managing their QT recovery. Further, similar kind of studies is required to confirm the effectiveness of this modality with other tendinosis.