From: O'Neill, Seth [mailto:so59@leicester.ac.uk]
Sent: 03 October 2013 12:24
To: 'dereka57@gmail.com'; 'secretary@bl-orienteering.org.uk'; 'website@bl-orienteering.org.uk'; 'web@deeside-orienteering-club.org.uk'; 'secretary@deeside-orienteering-club.org.uk'; 'membership@lakeland-orienteering.org.uk'; 'secretary@lakeland-orienteering.org.uk'; 'hm.gregory@btinternet.com'; 'julie.brook@iclway.co.uk'
Subject: FW: National Survey of Runners- risk factors for Achilles tendon problems and the Incidence

Dear Orienteering club committee members

I am a physiotherapy Lecturer at the University of Leicester we are running several research projects targeting runners. These projects are designed to identify risk factors for the development of Achilles Tendon problems and also to develop new more optimal treatment and prevention strategies.

As part of this work we developed a risk factor tool using the world’s leading tendon experts, this has been developed into a survey of international importance. The survey assesses risk factors for Achilles tendon disorders and also the actual incidence of Achilles problems. Unfortunately this data does not currently exist.

In order to complete this study we are attempting to achieve 5000 online responses from runners in the UK, they can be healthy (no injuries) or have injuries. If any of your members are interested the survey can be found by clicking the link- https://acsurvey.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1FwsGH7NwhD45i5 or they can read this blog http://www.running-physio.com/achilles-risk-factors/

I would be very grateful if you could either send this survey out to your members through email, or post on your social networking sites. Please feel free to pass on to any regular runner or other groups you have contact with, the more information we gather the more robust the data. We aim to use this data to produce preventative strategies and reduce the incidence of Achilles problems in the future. We would be very happy to share the data with you and would aim to publish on our website www.achillestendonresearch.com. They might also want to follow me on twitter for further advice @sethoneill

If you have current runners with Achilles tendon problems or Healthy runners who would like to participate in our research then please ask them to contact me directly and I can let them know exactly what we are doing.

If your members would like further information or wish to participate please do not hesitate to contact myself through this email.

Regards

Seth

Seth O'Neill

Physiotherapy lecturer
Department of Medical and Social Care Education
Maurice Shock Medical Sciences Building
G77
University of Leicester
PO Box 138
LE1 9HN
E-mail so59@le.ac.uk

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