Variabilidad morfológica y termográfica del tendón de Aquiles en jugadores de rugby de élite

The present work addresses the morphological variability of the Achilles tendon and the thermographic variability of the Achilles tendon. The sample was taken during high performance training. The thickness of the tendon was measured with an ultrasound scanner taking a tendon on the first day of training. Thermography was performed for 5 consecutive days, each day two measurements, one in the morning before training and another in the afternoon after training. The sample consists of 36 male rugby players, elite athletes between 16 and 18 years old. These players were divided according to dominant limb, 30 right-handed and 6 left-handed. The thickness of the Achilles tendon is slightly greater in right-handed patients than in left-handed patients. It can not be stated that there are significant differences in tendon thickness between the two groups. The thermographic variability of the tendon both before training and after training is slightly higher in left-handed patients, but there are no major differences between the two. We cannot affirm that there is a difference between dominant members in the variability of infrared thermography. We have concluded that the thickness of the tendon in our group of athletes is within normality. We determined that for there to be morphological variability of the Achilles we should consider other factors such as height, weight or BMI. The study of the dominance of the members is not enough. For the study of vascular supply variability and, as a consequence, thermographic variability in patients of these ages, we needed longer training sessions to obtain a conclusion. El presente trabajo aborda la variabilidad morfológica y la variabilidad termográfica del tendón de Aquiles. La muestra se tomó durante un entrenamiento de alto rendimiento. El grosor del tendón se midió con un ecógrafo realizando una toma del tendón el primer día del entrenamiento. La termografía se realizó durante 5 días consecutivos, cada día dos medidas, una por la mañana antes de entrenar y otra por la tarde después del entrenamiento. La muestra consta de 36 sujetos masculinos, deportistas de élite entre 16 y 18 años. Estos sujetos se dividieron según miembro dominante, 30 diestros y 6 zurdos. El grosor del tendón de Aquiles es ligeramente mayor en pacientes diestros que en los zurdos. No se puede afirmar que haya diferencias significativas de grosores del tendón entre los dos grupos. La variabilidad termográfica del tendón tanto antes de entrenar como