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The purpose of this study was to evaluate calf muscle endurance in a seated position 3 months after an Achilles tendon rupture and to evaluate how the ability to perform standardized seated heel-rises correlated to the single-leg standing heel-rise test and to patient-reported symptoms evaluated with the Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score ( ATRS) 3 and 6 months after the injury. Ninety-three patients were included from a cohort of 101 patients participating in a prospective, randomized controlled trial comparing surgical and nonsurgical treatment after Achilles tendon rupture. Forty-seven patients were treated surgically and 46 nonsurgically. Ninety-one patients out of 93 (98%) could perform the standardized seated heel-rises. At the 3-month follow-up, there was a significant difference ( P < 0.001) between the injured and the healthy side performing standardized seated heel-rises. There were also significant correlations ( r = 0.29-0.37, P = < 0.05) between the standardized seated heel-rises and ATRS 3 and 6 months after injury in the group who could not perform single-leg standing heel-rises. There were no significant differences between the surgical and nonsurgical treatment groups. The evaluation of standardized seated heel-rises appears to be a useful tool to quantify progress and predict future functional performance and patient-reported symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare the results after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in female and male competitive athletes who had pre-injury Tegner activity level of ≥ and a non-injured contralateral anterior cruciate ligament. One hundred and thirtythree female and 296 male patients were followed at 38(21-68) months after the index operation. All the patients were operated on by experienced knee surgeons using patellar tendon autografts and interference screw fixation. At the index operation the median age of the female patients was 23(16-45) years and the median age of the male patients was 26(1647) years. The reconstruction was performed a median of 10(0-141) and 10(0-203) months after the injury in women and men respectively. The patients were re-examined by independent observers. At the follow-up, the median Lysholm score was 89(38-100) points in the female group and 90(22-100) points in the male group (P=0.015). The IKDC evaluation system, subjective anterior knee pain, subjective evaluation of the results, the knee-walking test and the KT-1000 tests revealed no differences between the groups. The mean (±2 SD) pre-injury Tegner activity level was 8.1 (plusmn;1.9)(median 8(7-10)) in the female group and 8.4(±1.8)(median 9 (7-10)) in the male group (P=0.003). At the follow-up, the Tegner activity level was 6.2(±3.8) in the female group and 6.8(±3.6) in the male group (P=0.012). At the follow-up, the Tegner activity level had decreased by 1.9(±3.8) for the women and 1.6(±3.3 for the men, as compared with the pre-injury level (n.s.). The difference between the performed and the desired activity level at the follow-up was 1.1(±3.2) in the female group and 0.9 (±3.0) in male group (n.s.). In the female group 53/133 (40%) and in the male group 115/296(39%) returned to the pre-injury activity level (n.s.). The median one-leg-hop quotient was 93(0-116)% in the female group and 96(0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]