TY - JOUR

T1 - Age related blood flow around the Achilles tendon during exercise in humans

AU - Langberg, Henning

AU - Olesen, J

AU - Skovgaard, D

AU - Kjaer, M

PY - 2001

Y1 - 2001

N2 - Injuries due to the overuse of tendons increase with age, and it has been suggested that this correlates with hypovascularity of the tendon. In the present study, the peritendinous blood flow was determined using xenon-133 washout at rest and during standardised intermittent exercise of the calf-muscle (1.5 s contraction, 1.5 s rest, 40 min) in young (n = 6; 26 years), middle-aged (n = 6; 48 years), and older (n = 6; 74 years) individuals. At rest, the older individuals had a lower peritendinous blood flow compared with the two other age groups. During exercise, blood flow in all three groups rose 2.5-3.5-fold to reveal similar blood flows [2.7 (SEM 0.5) to 7.8 (SEM 1.0) ml.100 g tissue-1 min-1 (young group); 3.0 (SEM 0.4) to 7.3 (SEM 1.6) ml.100 g tissue-1 min-1 (middle-aged group); 1.6 (SEM 0.2) to 5.5 (SEM 1.1) ml 100 g tissue-1.min-1 (older group)]. The findings demonstrated that the peritendinous blood flow to the zone of the tendon with the highest incidence of injury from overuse is unaltered by age during exercise, and indicates that factors other than blood flow are important for the increased incidence with age of injuries from overuse.

AB - Injuries due to the overuse of tendons increase with age, and it has been suggested that this correlates with hypovascularity of the tendon. In the present study, the peritendinous blood flow was determined using xenon-133 washout at rest and during standardised intermittent exercise of the calf-muscle (1.5 s contraction, 1.5 s rest, 40 min) in young (n = 6; 26 years), middle-aged (n = 6; 48 years), and older (n = 6; 74 years) individuals. At rest, the older individuals had a lower peritendinous blood flow compared with the two other age groups. During exercise, blood flow in all three groups rose 2.5-3.5-fold to reveal similar blood flows [2.7 (SEM 0.5) to 7.8 (SEM 1.0) ml.100 g tissue-1 min-1 (young group); 3.0 (SEM 0.4) to 7.3 (SEM 1.6) ml.100 g tissue-1 min-1 (middle-aged group); 1.6 (SEM 0.2) to 5.5 (SEM 1.1) ml 100 g tissue-1.min-1 (older group)]. The findings demonstrated that the peritendinous blood flow to the zone of the tendon with the highest incidence of injury from overuse is unaltered by age during exercise, and indicates that factors other than blood flow are important for the increased incidence with age of injuries from overuse.

KW - Achilles Tendon

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Aging

KW - Exercise

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Muscle Contraction

KW - Muscle, Skeletal

KW - Regional Blood Flow

KW - Rest

U2 - 10.1007/s004210170013

DO - 10.1007/s004210170013

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 11320644

VL - 84

SP - 246

EP - 248

JO - European Journal of Applied Physiology

JF - European Journal of Applied Physiology

SN - 1439-6319

IS - 3

ER -