Sonographic Assessment Of Finger Flexor Tendons In Olympic Archers

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the possible hypertrophy of the finger flexor tendons in archers. Materials and Methods: Thirteen Olympic archery athletes without any symptoms of overuse injury were enrolled in the study. The second, third and fourth flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendons of the string and bow hands were evaluated both axially and longitudinally using sonography. Width, thickness and cross-sectional area (CSA) of FDP tendons of the string and bow hands were compared. Results: Thickness, width and CSA values of the fourth fingers were all increased in the string hands compared to the bow hands, however, those differences pertaining to tendon thickness and CSA reached statistical significance (p<0.05). The values of the second and third fingers were similar between the hands (p>0.05). Conclusion: FDP tendons of archers tend to hypertrophy on their string hands probably due to overloading during shooting. Turk J Phys Med Rehab 2012;58:85-7.