Ultrasound strain mapping of the mouse Achilles tendon during passive dorsiflexion

Immediately prior to inserting into bone, many healthy tendons experience impingement from nearby bony structures. However, super-physiological levels of impingement are implicated in insertional tendinopathies. Unfortunately, the mechanisms underlying the connection between impingement and tendon pathology remain poorly understood, in part due to the shortage of well-characterized animal models of impingement at clinically relevant sites. As a first step towards developing a model of excessive tendon impingement, the objective of this study was to characterize the mechanical strain environment in the mouse Achilles tendon insertion under passive dorsiflexion and confirm that – like humans – mice experience impingement of the tendon insertion from the calcaneus (heel bone) in dorsiflexed ankle positions. Based on previous work in humans, we hypothesized that during dorsiflexion, the mouse Achilles tendon insertion would experience high levels of transverse compressive strain due to calcaneal impingement. A custom-built loading platform was used to apply passive dorsiflexion, while an ultrasound transducer positioned over the Achilles tendon captured radiofrequency images. A non-rigid image registration algorithm was then used to map the transverse compressive strain based on the acquired ultrasound image sequences. Our results demonstrate that during passive dorsiflexion, transverse compressive strains were produced throughout the Achilles tendon, with significantly larger strain magnitudes at the tendon insertion than at the midsubstance. Furthermore, there was increasing transverse compressive strain observed within the Achilles tendon as a function of increasing dorsiflexion angle. This study enhances our understanding of the unique mechanical loading environment of the Achilles tendon under physiologically relevant conditions.