A Prospective Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial on the Comparison of Traditional Rehabilitation Protocol and Acupuncture-assisted Rehabilitation Protocol for Achilles Tendon Rupture

This prospective randomized controlled clinical study is designed to compare the treatment outcomes of different rehabilitation protocols by dividing the patients into two groups-based on the traditional rehabilitation protocol and acupuncture-assisted rehabilitation protocol. See the text for detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients that meet all the inclusion criteria but do not meet any exclusion criteria, and who have signed the informed consent will be recruited, and each patient will be assigned a unique patient identification number, which will be used throughout the study identify the patient. All patients be treated surgically with the same suture technique. For acupuncture-assisted rehabilitation group, patients will receive additional acupuncture treatment. Investigators will collect indicators from multiple dimensions such as ankle function and pain level to compare the efficacy of the two groups.

The achilles tendon , despite being the largest and strongest tendon, is often prone to ruptures. The latest evidence48 has demonstrated that at centers using functional rehabilitation, nonoperative treatment results in similar rerupture rates but significantly lower complica- tion rates than surgical treatment. So we expect this trial to point out better rehabilitation.

In traditional Chinese acupuncture, nearly 400 acupoints on the body surface are interrelated to various functions. Acupuncture has also been widely studied for the treatment of motor system diseases. However, trials on rehabilitation of Achilles tendon rupture are still lacking.