Achilles tendon ruptures are common injuries that lead to functional deficits in two-thirds of patients. Progressively loading the healing tendon has been associated with superior outcomes, but the loading profiles that patients experience throughout rehabilitation have not yet been established. In this study, we developed and calibrated an instrumented immobilizing boot paradigm that is aimed at longitudinally quantifying patient loading biomechanics to develop personalized rehabilitation protocols. We used a 3-part instrumented insole to quantify the ankle loads generated by the Achilles tendon and secured a load cell inline with the posterior strut of the immobilizing boot to quantify boot loading. We then collected gait data from five healthy young adults to demonstrate the validity of this instrumented immobilizing boot paradigm to assess Achilles tendon loading during ambulation. We developed a simple calibration procedure to improve the measurement fidelity of the instrumented insole needed to quantify Achilles tendon loading while ambulating with an immobilizing boot. By assessing Achilles tendon loading with the ankle constrained to 0 degrees and 30 degrees plantar flexion, we confirmed that walking with the foot supported in plantar flexion decreased Achilles tendon loading by 60% (P < 0.001). This instrumented immobilizing boot paradigm leverages commercially available sensors and logs data using a small microcontroller secured to the boot and a handheld device, making our paradigm capable of continuously monitoring biomechanical loading outside of the lab or clinic.

跟腱断裂是常见的损伤，导致三分之二的患者功能受损。逐渐加载愈合肌腱与更好的预后相关，但是尚未确定患者在整个康复过程中所经历的负载情况。在这项研究中，我们开发并校准了一种仪器化的固定式引导范式，旨在纵向量化患者负荷生物力学，以开发个性化的康复方案。我们使用三部分式器械内底来量化跟腱产生的踝关节负荷，并在固定靴的后撑杆上固定一个测力传感器，以量化靴负荷。然后，我们从5位健康的年轻人那里收集了步态数据，以证明这种固定的固定引导范式在移动时评估跟腱负荷的有效性。我们开发了一种简单的校准程序，以提高在量化固定跟腱时固定跟腱加载量所需的仪器化内底的测量保真度。通过评估脚踝在0度和30度足底屈曲时的跟腱负荷，我们证实在足底屈曲下支撑脚走路可以将跟腱负荷降低60％（P  <0.001）。这种仪器化的固定式靴子范例利用了市售的传感器，并使用固定在靴子上的小型微控制器和手持设备记录数据，从而使我们的范例能够连续监控实验室或诊所外的生物力学负荷。