Therapeutic exercise in tendinopathy
The objective of the review was to investigate the relationship between observable structural change and clinical outcomes following therapeutic exercise, investigating whether there was a correlation between the structural change and clinical outcome.
Reviews in the past have shown positive responses to therapeutic exercise in the treatment of tendinopathy. Despite different theories of explanations of histological adaptations and the explanations of improved clinical outcomes, this has yet to be shown. Therefore the mechanism for the efficacy of the therapeutic exercise remains unclear.
The review found a strong evidence to reject observable structural changes as explanations for therapeutic exercise response when treated by eccentric training. Heavy-slow resistance training does however support structural changes moderately. Future research should focus on identifying other explanations including neural, biochemical and myogenic changes.
