With the men’s 100m final only hours away I’ve been thinking again about Usain Bolt’s previous Achilles tendon injury (2010) and the impact it has had on his performance since his world record breaking performance in 2009.

Sprinting is a very tendon biased activity because the muscle stretch-shortening cycle is particularly fast, so fast that the muscle is unable to stretch and recoil quickly enough so the tendon does most of the work (Finni 2001, 2003). The faster our running, jumping function, the more tendon biased the activity.

Most sprinters have stunningly long Achilles tendons and there is evidence that Achilles length is related to running efficiency (Hunter 2011). The longer the tendon the better it functions as a spring. This means the calf, that is much more oxygen hungry, is spared. Further, stiffer Achilles are also related to increased running efficiency (Arampatzis 2006).

To add to all this we know that some types of end stage tendon pathology is very unlikely to improve (Malliaras 2009), even with the latest and greatest treatment that Usain has no doubt had access to. The issue with this is tendon stiffness is known to be lower in pathology (Arya 2010, Child 2010), and this may impact on efficiency and performance.

My hope is that he had a mild form of tendinopathy that has recovered fully in regards to pathology so that we can see him at his peak in a few hours.

Let’s see….

 

References

Arampatzis A, De Monte G, Karamanidis K, et al. Influence of the muscle-tendon unit’s mechanical and morphological properties on running economy. Journal of experimental biology 2006; 209:3345-57

Arya S, Kulig K. Tendinopathy alters mechanical and material properties of the Achilles tendon. J Appl Physiol 2010; 108:670-5

Child S, Bryant AL, Clark RA, et al. Mechanical properties of the achilles tendon aponeurosis are altered in athletes with achilles tendinopathy. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 2010; 38:1885

Finni T, Ikegawa S, Lepola V, et al. Comparison of force–velocity relationships of vastus lateralis muscle in isokinetic and in stretch?shortening cycle exercises. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica 2003; 177:483-91

Finni T, Komi PV, Lepola V. In vivo muscle mechanics during locomotion depend on movement amplitude and contraction intensity. European Journal of Applied Physiology 2001; 85:170-6

Hunter GR, KATSOULIS K, MCCARTHY JP, et al. Tendon Length and Joint Flexibility Are Related to Running Economy. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2011; 43:1492

Malliaras P, Purdam C, Maffulli N, et al. Temporal sequence of greyscale ultrasound changes and their relationship with neovascularity and pain in the patellar tendon. BrJSports Med 2010; 44:944-7