Early versus late weightbearing in conservative management of acute achilles tendon rupture: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

•Cast application and late weightbearing is the most common rehabilitation protocol following Achilles tendon rupture (ATR).•Recent trials support early weightbearing and ankle mobilization with removable orthosis over late weightbearing.•Our review revealed similar functional and patient-reported o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Injury 2022-04, Vol.53 (4), p.1543-1551
Main Authors: Ghaddaf, Abdullah A, Alomari, Mohammed S, Alsharef, Jawaher F, Alakkas, Eyad, Alshehri, Mohammed S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achilles tendon
Calcaneal tendon
Conservative
Rerupture
Weight-bearing
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Summary:•Cast application and late weightbearing is the most common rehabilitation protocol following Achilles tendon rupture (ATR).•Recent trials support early weightbearing and ankle mobilization with removable orthosis over late weightbearing.•Our review revealed similar functional and patient-reported outcomes between early and late weightbearing for the conservative management of ATR.•Early weightbearing was not found to be associated with higher adverse event rate compared to late weightbearing. Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) is one of the most frequently encountered injuries in Sports Medicine. ATR can be managed surgically or conservatively followed by early functional rehabilitation or cast immobilization. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide an update about the role of early weightbearing (WB) versus late WB on the clinical outcomes of adults with acute ATR. We performed a systematic literature search in Web of Science, Ovid, Medline/PubMed, and CENTRAL. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared early WB, defined as weight-bearing within 4 weeks of treatment, to late WB for individuals with acute (
ISSN:0020-1383
1879-0267
DOI:10.1016/j.injury.2022.01.028