The Achilles tendon is the strongest and largest tendon in the body. It is the conjoined tendon of the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscles, and may have a small contribution from the plantaris. The muscles and the Achilles tendon are in the posterior, superficial compartment of the calf. Through the Achilles tendon, they are the main plantar flexors of the ankle. The Achilles tendon is subject...

Obesity is strongly associated with musculoskeletal disorders of the lower limb, including ankle instability and resulting gait problems. In the present study, we aimed to examine, using paired comparisons of subjects, whether moderate duration of obesity in patients with mild to moderate elevations of body mass index (BMI), changes the fibrous contents of muscles that support the ankle mortice...

The aim of the present study was to examine how the recovery of physiological functioning of the leg muscles after high-intensity eccentric exercise such as downhill running could be promoted by aqua exercise for a period until the damaged muscle had recovered almost completely. Ten male long-distance runners were divided equally into an aqua exercise group and a control group. From the first d...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the current study was to describe a method that assesses the hyperemic microvascular blood plasma volume of the calf musculature. The reversibly albumin binding contrast agent gadofosveset was used in dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) to assess the microvascular status in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and healthy controls. In ...

Tissue water transverse relaxation times (T2) are highly sensitive to fluid and lipid accumulations in skeletal muscles whereas the related T2* is sensitive to changes in tissue oxygenation in addition to factors affecting T2. Diabetes mellitus (DM) affects muscles of lower extremities progressively by impairing blood flow at the macrovascular and microvascular levels. This study is to investig...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to determine the acute effect of rolling massage on pressure pain threshold (PPT) in individuals with tender spots in their plantar flexor muscles. METHODS In a randomized control trial and single blinded study, tender spots were identified in 150 participants' plantar flexor muscles (gastrocnemius or soleus). Then participants were randomly assigne...

Calf muscles and Achilles tendon play important roles in functional activities. However, it is not clear how biomechanical properties of the uniarticular soleus (SOL) and biarticular gastrocnemius muscle and Achilles tendon, including the fascicle length, pennation angle, and stiffness, change concurrently post stroke. Biomechanical properties of the medial gastrocnemius (GM) and soleus muscles...

A Jamaican RAF corporal aged 24 years complained of intermittent low back pain for two years. His first attack occurred when he twisted whilst in a crouching position playing cricket, then in March 1 977 he kicked a football with his left foot and he felt a severe pain in the back of the left thigh. This pain persisted and was accompanied by numbness of the outer side of the left calf and foot,...

In the North Pontic region, bronze greaves appeared among Scythians and noble members of tribal world eastern European steppe in middle fifth century BC were used until end fourth. Both “classic” full-length Greek without knee pads use. Surviving fragments thereof from different Scythian burials allow for analysis peculiarities their construction. A distinct feature burial Barrow 6 near village...