Porcine Collagen Injection Therapy Affects Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy in Athletes in Reducing Time Return to Sport

Background: Proximal hamstring tendinopathy (PHT) is a debilitating musculoskeletal condition characterized by severe pain in the posterior thigh. It is very common in athletes subjected to repetitive hamstring muscle contractions, such as runners and other athletes. This condition can impact the athlete's performance, limiting high-level athletic activity. Return to sport (RTS) becomes a medical, physical, athletic, and economic necessity. Conservative approaches for PHT treatments include various options, such as: physiotherapy, corticosteroids, plasma-rich-platelet shockwave therapy and collagen. Porcine collagen demonstrated to be a validated option for tendinopathies treatment, however no one studies of porcine collagen application in PHT were reported. Aim of present study is to evaluate the efficacy of porcine collagen injection in athletes, affected by PHT. Methods: Twenty-height athletes were included in the study and randomly sorted in two arms of treatment: COL I (porcine collagen injection) and REHAB (rehabilitation program). Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment (VISA questionnaire) Hamstring (-H) questionnaire and RTS time, were quantitatively evaluated in order to found the significant difference between the treatments (COL I vs REHAB). Results: The two group of treatment were very homegenius and showed parametric distribution concerning the biological and pathophysiological conditions. The mean times to RTS were 57 and 72 days for COL I and REHAB, respectively (p=0.0083). The VISA-H results revealed a better condition in COL I treatment with respect to REHAB (p<0.0001) and the Long-Rank test showed a higher odd ratio (HR) to RTS equal to 5.35 (p=0.0008) for COL I athletes. Finally, the COL I treatment seems to uniform the response to treatment batter than REHAB. Conclusions: This Study seems to demonstrate the usefulness of COL I treatment in PHT athletes. A largest cohort of athletes might be necessary to harvest better information about the conservative treatment in PHT pathology.