Foot & Ankle
Achilles tendinopathy
Achilles tendinopathy is followed with foot and ankle outcome measures, with the sport and recreation items carrying most of the meaningful change in active patients.
What you are actually deciding
Daily-living subscales ceiling quickly in tendinopathy because walking is often unaffected while running is not. Report the sport subscale separately rather than a combined score, or the treatment effect will look smaller than it is.
Patient-reported outcome measure2
- FAAM Calculator29 itemsFoot and Ankle Ability MeasureThe FAAM is a 29-item patient-reported questionnaire for musculoskeletal disorders of the leg, foot and ankle that produces two separate subscale scores — Activities of Daily Living from 21 items and Sports from 8 items — each expressed from 0% (unable to perform the listed activities) to 100% (no limitation).
- FAOS Calculator42 itemsFoot and Ankle Outcome ScoreThe FAOS is a 42-item patient-reported questionnaire adapted from the KOOS that scores foot and ankle problems as five separate subscales — Symptoms, Pain, Activities of Daily Living, Sport and Recreation, and Quality of Life — each from 0 (extreme problems) to 100 (no problems).
Thresholds that apply here
Published change thresholds across the instruments above. Check the population matches your patient before using a value — a threshold derived in a different cohort will mislead you.
| Instrument | Type | Value | Subscale | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAAM | MCID | 8 points | ADL | Adults with a broad range of leg, foot and ankle musculoskeletal disorders who self-rated as improved |
| FAAM | MCID | 9 points | Sports | Adults with a broad range of leg, foot and ankle musculoskeletal disorders who self-rated as improved |
| FAAM | MDC | 5.7 points | ADL | Adults with leg, foot and ankle musculoskeletal disorders, stable between administrations |
| FAAM | MDC | 12.3 points | Sports | Adults with leg, foot and ankle musculoskeletal disorders, stable between administrations |
| FAOS | MCID | 10 points | All subscales | Ankle disorders, by analogy with the KOOS |
| FAOS | MDC | 10–20 points depending on subscale | — | Chronic ankle instability |
See the full threshold database for every instrument on the site.