REVIEW   

Minerva Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2017 March;68(1):20-33

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4911.16.03785-X

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Current treatment options for tendinopathy: a systematic review

Joel SVENSSON ^{1, 2}, Praxitelis PRAXITELOUS ^{1, 2}, Paul W. ACKERMANN ^{1, 2} ✉

¹ Section of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; ² Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

BACKGROUND: Tendinopathy, both sports and work related, is increasing in prevalence. Evidence-based treatment options for tendinopathy, however, have been scarce. Here we provide a systematic review, updated on the current treatment options for tendinopathy.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: References for this systematic review were searched in June 2016 without year restrictions and limited to the English language in the following databases: Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations (OVID), EMBASE (Elsevier), CINAHL (Ebsco), Cochrane Library including CENTRAL (Wiley), PEDro.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Our search generated 2666 articles and where 97 where selected to be included in this review. Two reviewers independently evaluated the titles and abstracts of the identified publications and the selected full text manuscripts in an unblinded standardized manner and excluded irrelevant articles (reviews, cadaver studies, technical descriptions, expert opinions). Disagreements between reviewers were resolved by consensus. We excluded articles stepwise based firstly on title, secondly on abstract, and thirdly on full text. Ninty of the selected articles were published in 2000 or later.
CONCLUSIONS: This evidence-based systematic review demonstrates that eccentric exercise and extracorporeal shockwave treatment exhibit the best efficacy, cost effectiveness and fewer side effects and therefore should be the first-line of treatment for tendinopathy.

KEY WORDS: Tendinopathy - Pain management - Tendons