Efficacy of eccentric exercise with visual feedback for patients with tendinopathy

Objective To observe the effect of eccentric exercise with visual feedback for patients with tendinopathy. Methods Sixtyfour patients with tendinopathy were recruited into the study and randomly divided into treatment group and control group.Patients in both groups were treated for 6 weeks, once a day, 3 days per week, 18 times totally.Visual analogue scale (VAS) was selected as the indicator of pain, and victorian institute of sports assessment-achilles questionnaire (VISA-A) as the indicator of function of Achilles tendon.Both VAS and VISA-A were assessed before and after treatment. Results After 6 weeks’ treatment, the VAS score decreased in both groups, and it was significantly lower in treatment group than control group (0.34±0.60) vs (1.28±1.05), P＜ 0.05.The VISA-A score increased in both groups with no significant difference (88.91±5.04) vs (87.93±5.63), P＞ 0.05. Conclusion The eccentric exercise with visual feedback is effective in reducing the pain of patients with tendinopathy, improving the function of achilles tendon, which is more effective than the traditional eccentric exercise.