160 Chapter 9 for tendinopathy.12 We demonstrated that Achilles tendinopathy has a large impact on quality of life, with specifically the domains mobility, pain/discomfort and usual activities being affected. These findings are in line with a recent study, showing that patients with Achilles tendinopathy have a significantly reduced quality of life compared to the general population.13 We compared the score from the health-related quality measure (EuroQoL fiveitem questionnaire; EQ-5D) for Achilles tendinopathy to a large sample of the general Dutch population and different musculoskeletal conditions.14 The results indicated that individuals with Achilles tendinopathy exhibited a notably lower mean quality of life score in comparison to those without any musculoskeletal conditions. This difference was observed across all EQ-5D dimensions, with the exception of self-care. It is worth highlighting that patients with Achilles tendinopathy reported similar, if not inferior, quality of life scores in key domains, including mobility, usual activities, and pain/discomfort, when compared to individuals with other musculoskeletal disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lateral epicondylar tendinopathy and fibromyalgia.14 The significant impact of Achilles tendinopathy on the domains mobility and pain/ discomfort becomes even more apparent when we compare the quality of life scores of individuals with this condition to those of patients with cardiovascular diseases or cancer - conditions widely acknowledged for their debilitating nature. In comparison to individuals with cardiovascular disease, patients with Achilles tendinopathy report similar or lower quality of life scores in the domains of mobility and pain/discomfort (Figure 1).15 Similar conclusions can be drawn when comparing the quality of life scores of patients coping with colorectal cancer16 or those with prostate cancer17 to Achilles tendinopathy patients (Figure 1).
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