Prevention of Achilles tendon ruptures: independent learning material for physiotherapy students

The Achilles tendon is the longest and strongest tendon in the human body, yet it is one of the most commonly injured tendons. The two major categories of injuries that can affect the Achilles tendon include tendinopathy and rupture. Total ruptures are devastating injuries, requiring up to a year of rehabilitation to return to previous activity levels. Therefore, prevention is a worthwhile goal to minimize economic impact caused by such injuries through time off work and cost of treatment. The aim of this thesis was to increase the knowledge of physiotherapy students of Achilles tendon ruptures and the measures that can be taken to prevent these injuries from occurring. This was achieved by creating an independent learning material package for physiotherapy students based on the evidence found in literature. The material provided information about the anatomy of the Achilles tendon, risk factors of rupture, and rehabilitation methods to use for these injuries. The learning material was created with an open-source program called H5P and was hosted on the virtual learning platform Moodle, where second year physiotherapy students volunteered to pilot the learning material. Small adjustments were made according to feedback given after piloting. More research needs to be done in order to fully understand the importance of preventing Achilles tendon ruptures, as currently more focus is placed on rehabilitation after the injury has occurred, rather than on prevention