Efficacy of the Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy in Athletes With Patellar Tendinopathy

Age, gender, height, weight, BMI, sports age, occupation, dominant side, affected side, currently doing sports, did they do sports in the past

The pain intensity felt by the participants in the knee joint during rest and activity, respectively, will be assessed with VAS. VAS is an easy-to-use scale as it does not have any language and is frequently applied in clinics. Individuals will be asked to describe the pain they feel during the test on a 10 cm scale as "0" (no pain) and "10" (unbearable pain).

Assess symptom severity, knee function and sports ability in athletes with PT. VISA-P questionnaire consists of 8 questions. The first 6 questions are to assess symptom severity during sports activities and the last 2 questions ask about sports-related knowledge interaction and participation. The maximum score of the first 7 questions of VISA-P questionnaire is 10 points and the last question is 30 points. Theoretically, the maximum score of VISA-P questionnaire is 100 and the minimum score is 0. The maximum VISA score for an asymptomatic athlete is 100 points.

The Vertical Jump Test (vertical jump or upright jump) is a commonly performed fitness test to determine an athlete's leg muscle strength or explosive power. The higher the jump, the stronger an athlete's leg muscle/explosive power. The test will be performed with an Optojump.

The long-distance single-leg hop (SLHD) is the most frequently reported functional test. Participants will be instructed to stand on the leg to be tested, jump as far forward as possible, and land on the same leg. The test procedure will be explained and then demonstrated. Participants will be given a practice run before the main measurement until they become familiar with the test and will be performed three times on both legs, starting with the non-dominant leg. Participants must not have any loss of balance during landing before the jump distance is measured and recorded. Dropping the other foot during the jump or landing, any abnormal movement that causes the supporting leg to move during landing, or touching the ground with the upper extremities will be recorded as a failed attempt. After an unsuccessful attempt, participants will be reminded to maintain balance on the landing leg for two seconds. They will then be allowed to perform a new attempt. The jump test will be considere

The incline board single-leg squat test (EET) is recommended as a provocation test to differentiate patellar tendon pain. The single-leg eccentric squat exercise will be performed on an incline board with a 25° incline (Impellizzeri et al., 2007). The EET will consist of a single-leg squat, with the downward component (eccentric phase) performed with the symptomatic leg and the upward component (concentric phase) primarily using the contralateral leg. The original test was described using a 25° incline board to increase the load on the patellar tendon and avoiding flexion beyond 60°. Localized pain at the inferior pole of the patella is identified as an important diagnostic sign for patellar tendinopathy. Participants will be asked to squat to the point of pain and the squat angles will be measured with a goniometer. Pain levels will be recorded with a VAS. A difference of 2 points on the VAS will be considered the minimal clinically important difference (MCID).

Tegner activity scale (TAS) is a 1-item instrument that assesses activity levels for sports (competitive or recreational football, basketball, handball, etc.) and occupational activities (light or heavy work). It assesses the patient's work and sports activity level on an 11-level scale, with higher scores representing higher physical activity levels.

The participants' pain catastrophizing will be assessed using the "Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS)". The Turkish version of the "Pain Catastrophizing Scale", which has been reported to reliably predict certain variables such as fear, emotion or thought related to past pain experiences, severe pain, disability and emotional disturbances, will be assessed using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. The scale consists of 13 questions scored between 0-4 (0=Not at all, 1=Somewhat. 2=Moderately, 3=Severely, 4=Always). An increase in the scale score indicates a high fear of experiencing pain.

TKS is a 17-question checklist and is used in acute and chronic low back pain, fibromyalgia, musculoskeletal injuries, and whiplash-related diseases. The scale uses a 4-point Likert score (1= Strongly disagree, 4= Strongly agree). A total score is calculated after reversing items 4, 8, 12, and 16. The person receives a total score between 17-68. A high score on the scale indicates that the person has high kinesiophobia. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire in Turkish was conducted by Tunca Yılmaz and his colleagues. For chronic pain, a change of 5.6 points is considered clinically significant.

SF-12 consists of 8 sub-dimensions and 12 items: physical functioning (2 items), physical role (2 items), body pain (1 item), general health (1 item), energy (1 item), social functioning (1 item), emotional role (2 items) and mental health (2 items). While the items related to physical and emotional role are answered as dichotomous (yes or no), the other items have Likert-type options ranging from 3 to 6. The total score of the survey ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score representing better health.