Effect of Foot Position During Rehabilitation of Achilles Tendinopathy on Tendon Mechanics and Symptoms.

A 12-week progressive, load-based exercise program was developed, consisting of four daily exercises with gradually increasing tendon load over time. The program was based on the exercise battery and according Achilles Tendon loading index described by Baxter et al. (2021) and included a wide variety of 30 exercises (heel raise variations, step exercises, squats, lunges, jump variations, ...). A new exercise was introduced every four days, while weekly supervised sessions ensured correct execution and allowed for adjustments based on patient tolerance (e.g., excessive knee loading, too high pain scores during specific exercises, …). This flexible approach enabled gradual progression of each participant's daily load index according to individual capacity. An estimated time of 20-30 minutes daily is needed to execute all the daily exercises.