Tendons are fibrous connective tissues composed of mostly of parallel arrays of collagen fiber bundles that densely packed together. Tendon usually connects muscle to bone, functioning simply to transmit forces and withstand tension during the contraction of muscles. A rupture and laceration of the tendon is more often the result of tensile force beyond what the tissue can stretch. Annually, there are 16.4 million musculoskeletal injuries in the United States which involve tendon and ligament injuries. It was evaluated that 200,000 ACL tears happen every year in the United States with 100,000 ACL reconstructive surgeries performed annually. The tendons in the foot are exceedingly complex and intricate. Thus, the healing process for a broken …show more content…
Intrinsic factors are factors specific to the person such as age, gender and bio mechanical or abnormalities in anatomy such as system diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and genetic factors. Whereas, extrinsic factors include training equipment or environment, footwear, technique, training errors, and occupation. To date, four treatment options which are autografts, allografts, xenografts, or prosthetic devices have been used by surgical treatments to repair or replace damaged tendons if the tendon has been severely injured. Ultimately, autografts have produced most satisfactory long-term results and currently it is a choice of treatment for severe tendon injuries. Unfortunately, the traditional treatments often accompanied with some disadvantages such as donor site morbidity, risk of disease transmission, limited long-term function recovery, high failure rates and risk of injury recurrence. Therefore, tissue engineering provides an alternative in the treatment for repair or replacement of damaged tendon. The use of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with scaffolds and bioactive molecules are the most typically used candidates for the regeneration of