Non-Surgical Treatment of Patellar Tendinopathy A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Non-Surgical Treatment of Patellar Tendinopathy A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Review
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.09.008
1440-2440/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia.
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2. Methods
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120
Table 1
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Author (Year) Intervention (Duration) n (Age) Follow-up Relevant Results Conclusions of the Study
De Vries et al.3 Patellar strapping 97 (19–35) None VISA-P (Baseline) Patellar strapping and sports taping reduced
Sports taping Mean age 27.0 The objective of this study 58.5 pain on application and during and
Placebo sports tape 61% male was to look at short term VAS immediate immediately after participation in sport (up to
Control effects only. Patellar Strap: 14 mm reduction 2 h).
(1 week) Sports Tape: 13 mm reduction
VAS During Sport
Patellar Tape: 7 mm less than control
Placebo Sports Tape: 6 mm less than control
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VAS two hours after exercise
Patellar strap: 8 mm less than control
Sports Tape: 10 mm less than control
Placebo Sports Tape: 7 mm less than control
Dragoo et al.4 Standardized eccentric 23 12 weeks VISA-P VISA-P: At 12 weeks the eccentric ex. + DN
exercise + PRP injection (22–48) 26 weeks Eccentric ex + PRP + DN group improved only modestly but at 26 weeks
Standardized eccentric Mean age 35.0 Baseline: 41 12 weeks: 66.4 26 weeks: 67.8 they had greater improvement.
exercise + Dry needling 100% male Eccentric ex + DN The eccentric ex. + PRP + DN group had
(DN) Baseline: 47.4 12 weeks: 52 improved more than the other group at 12
(1 injection & structured 26 weeks: 83.9 weeks. At week 26 both groups showed
eccentric exercise & home VAS clinically significant improvement and the
exercise program for 26 Eccentric ex. + PRP + DN difference between groups was not significant.
weeks) Baseline: 4.1 12 weeks: 1.7 VAS: There was no significant difference
26 weeks: 1.7 between groups at 12 and 26 weeks.
Eccentric ex. + DN
Baseline: 3 12 weeks: 2.3
26 weeks: 0.3
Resteghini et al.11 ABI 22 1 month VISA-P VISA-P and VAS scores improved significantly
injection + DN + eccentric (22–61) 3 months ABI in both groups. When the results were
ex. ABI group 8 males & 3 1 year Initial: 34.1 1 month 50.7 compared there was no significant difference
Saline females. 3 months 57.71 year: 62.5 between the two groups.
injection +DN + eccentric Saline group 10 males & 1 Saline
ex. female. Initial: 19.6 1 month 39.2
(1 injection) 3 months 39.2 1 year: 48.6
VAS
ABI
Initial: 7.5 1 month 4.5
3 months 3.5 1 Year: 3.1
Saline
Initial: 7.9 1 month 4.5
3 months 4.0 1 year: 3.3
Rio et al.12 Isometric Exercise 6 None VISA-P Baseline 52.8 Isometric exercise results in significantly
Isotonic Exercise 100% male VAS reduced tendon pain immediately and the
(Single bout of exercise) Median age 26.9 Isometric reduction in pain was sustained when tested at
(18–40) Initial: 7.00 Post: 0.17 45 minutes post exercise.
45 min post exercise: Reduction in pain Isotonic exercise did not result in the same
sustained degree of pain reduction and the pain
Isotonic reduction was not sustained when tested at 45
Initial: 6.33 Post: 3.75 post exercise.
45 min post exercise: Reduction in pain not
sustained
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Rio et al.14 Isometric Exercise 20 None VISA-P Isometric exercise demonstrated significantly
Isotonic Exercise (not set) Isometric greater immediate analgesia than isotonic
(4 weeks) Baseline: 72.5 4 weeks: 84 exercise.
Isotonic
Baseline: 69.5 4 weeks: 80
VAS
Baseline: 5/10
Isometric
After: 3.2/10
Isotonic
After: 4.1/10
Thijs et al.16 ESWT + Eccentric Exercise 52 24 weeks VISA-P There was no additional effect of ESWT over
T. Vander Doelen and W. Jelley / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 23 (2020) 118–124
Sham ESWT (18–45) ESWT + Eccentric exercise placebo (sham shockwave) in participants with
(placebo) + Eccentric Male & female Baseline: 54.5 24 weeks: 70.9 chronic patellar tendinopathy who were
Exercise Median age 28.6 Sham ESWT + Eccentric exercise following a daily eccentric exercise program.
(ESWT or placebo 1x/week Baseline: 58.9 24 weeks: 78.2
for 3 weeks) VAS (10 × SLDS)
Both groups performed an ESWT + eccentric
eccentric exercise program Baseline: 4.1 24 weeks: 1.8
2x/ day for 24 weeks. Sham ESWT
Baseline: 4.7 24 weeks: 2.2
van Ark et al.17 Isometric Exercise 29 4 weeks VISA-P Both isometric and isotonic exercise programs
Isotonic Exercise (16–32) Isometric reduced pain and improved knee function
(4 weeks) Median age 23.9 Baseline: 66.5 4 weeks: 75
2 females & 27 males. Isotonic
Baseline: 69.5 4 weeks: 79
VAS
Isometric
Baseline: 6.3 4 weeks: 4.0
Isotonic
Baseline: 5.5 4 weeks: 2.0
Van der worp et al.18 Focused ESWT + Eccentric 43 14 Weeks VISA-P The study found no differences in effectiveness
Exercise (21–41) FESWT between FESWT and RESWT. The authors also
Radial ESWT + Eccentric Baseline: 48.6 14 weeks: 63.6 put forward that it was also questionable
Exercise RESWT whether the slight improvement achieved
(Focused or radial ESWT Baseline: 48.8 14 weeks: 58.4 after 14 weeks was clinically relevant.
1x/week for 3 weeks) VAS
Eccentric exercise for 14 FESWT
weeks) Baseline: 3.3 14 weeks: 2.5
RESWT
Baseline: 3.5 14 weeks: 2.4
Vetrano et al.19 PRP Injections 46 2 months VISA-P At 2 months, both PRP injections and ESWT
ESWT (17–35) 6 months PRP were effective in reducing pain and improving
(PRP injections 1x/week for Median age 26. 85 1 year Baseline: 55.3 1 year: 91.3 function.
2 weeks, ESWT 3 sessions ESWT At 6 and 12-month follow-up the PRP injection
separated by 48–72 h) Baseline: 56.1 1 year: 77.6 group showed significantly better
VAS improvement.
PRP
Baseline: 6.6 1 year: 1.5
ESWT
Baseline: 6.3 1 year: 3.2
Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment – Patellar Tendon (VISA-P), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Dry needling (DN), Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), Focused Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (FESWT), Radial
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (RESWT), Autologous Blood Injection (ABI), Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP).
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3.1. Isometric and isotonic exercise larger sample size of 46 subjects. Dragoo et al.3 had a shorter follow-
up period of 26 weeks while Resteghini et al.11 and Vetrano et al.19
Eccentric exercise was used in combination with other treat- had follow-ups of one year. All three studies found clinically signifi-
ment interventions for over one third of the subjects in this review. cant improvement in function as measured by the VISA-P following
No studies looked exclusively at eccentric exercise. Three of the PRP, ABI and saline injections. In the Dragoo et al. study the addi-
nine studies evaluated the benefits of isotonic versus isometric tion of PRP apparently improved function initially but the benefits
exercise. Rio et al.12 found that isometric exercise resulted in sig- dissipated after 26 weeks. The finding of Resteghini et al. that there
nificantly reduced tendon pain immediately and that the reduction was no statistical difference between the saline and ABI injection
in pain was sustained when retested after 45 min. Isotonic exercise groups may support the hypothesis of Vetrano et al. Vetrano et al.
did not result in the same degree of pain reduction and the pain proposed that needling itself on tendinopathic tissue may have a
reduction was not sustained. In this study, the isometric group per- positive effect on tissue healing.
formed five 45-s isometric holds at 70% of one repetition maximum
(RM) and the isotonic group performed four sets of eight repetitions 3.3. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT)
involving a 4-s eccentric phase and 3-s concentric phase at 100% of
eight RM. Three of the nine studies assessed the effectiveness of ESWT.
Van Ark et al.17 used a similar protocol involving an isomet- Van der Worp et al.18 demonstrated that after three sessions, par-
ric group performing five 45 s holds at 60◦ of knee flexion at 80% ticipants receiving either focused (electromagnetic or peizoelectric
maximal voluntary isometric contraction and an isotonic group mechanism) or radial (pneumatic mechanism) ESWT treatment
performing four sets of eight repetitions at 80% of eight RM with a showed only slight improvement after 14 weeks. The improvement
4-s eccentric phase and a 3-s concentric phase. These authors found was not clinically relevant.
a clinically important decrease in pain and improvement in func- As mentioned above in the PRP injection results section, Vetrano
tion during a 4-week trial of both isotonic and isometric exercise et al.19 found that either three sessions of ESWT or two PRP injec-
with athletes during in-season training. tions were effective at 2 month, 6 month, and 12 month follow up.
In 2017, Rio et al.14 used the same isometric protocol as Van ark However, at 6 and 12-month follow-up the PRP injection group had
et al.17 but with a 4-s eccentric and 3-s concentric phase for the iso- better results.
tonic protocol. This study demonstrated that isometric contractions Thijs et al.16 compared ESWT to sham shockwave (placebo). All
provided significantly greater immediate analgesia as compared to subjects were also following a daily eccentric exercise program.
isotonic contractions throughout a 4-week in-season trial. This study found no additional effect of ESWT over placebo.
These three studies were performed with similar exercise pro- The three ESWT studies had follow-up between 14 weeks and
tocols but with different timing of follow-ups. Isometric exercise 1 year. Only one study, Vetrano et al., demonstrated positive results
consistently resulted in immediately reducing knee pain with this with the use of ESWT. Even then, the positive results were with
reduction in pain sustained for a short period afterward in all three functional improvement only and were not as significant as those
studies. Isotonic was found to be effective in one of the three stud- achieved with PRP injections.
ies.
3.4. Dry needling (DN)
3.2. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections and autologous blood
injection (ABI)
One study compared the use of DN and eccentric exercise to PRP
injection, DN and eccentric exercise. DN was also used in combina-
Three studies look at the use of injections as an intervention for
tion with saline injection or ABI injection in another study. DN was
patellar tendinopathy. One study evaluated the use of ABI injections
never carried out as an intervention on its own. In the two studies
and compared it to saline injections. Two studies evaluated the use
that incorporated DN there was significant improvement in knee
of PRP injections. It should be noted that DN was included with all
function at follow-up.
injections.
Resteghini et al.11 used a single injection of either ABI or saline,
in two groups of patients previously not responding to three 3.5. Patellar strapping and patellar taping
months of eccentric exercise. Patients were advised to continue
their eccentric exercise programs post-injection as well. Follow- One of the nine studies evaluated sports taping and patellar
up was done at 1-month, 3-months, and 6-months. Both groups strapping. De Vries et al.2 established that a patellar strap, non-
had significantly decreased knee pain and improved knee function. stretch tape, and placebo tape used during sport for two weeks
When the results were compared there was no statistical difference could reduce pain during and immediately after exercise for up
between the saline and ABI injections groups. to two hours. Placebo taping was done using a non-specific appli-
Vetrano et al.19 used two PRP injections one each week for two cation of a stretch tape over the patellar tendon. The authors
weeks. This was found to be effective in reducing pain and improv- put forward a possible explanation for the placebo tape results.
ing knee function at the follow-up at 2-months, 6-months and They hypothesized that by applying any orthosis, including placebo
12-months. This treatment intervention was compared to a group sports tape, to the knee, pain will be reduced due to the cutaneous
that received 3 sessions of ESWT, the results for this group were structures being stimulated. There was no long term follow up car-
not significant. ried out in this study.
Dragoo et al.3 compared PRP injection to DN both interventions
were combined with standardized eccentric exercise. In terms of 4. Discussion
function at 12 weeks the DN group had only modest improvement
but had greater improvement at 26 weeks. The PRP group was sig- The results of this review found a number of non-surgical treat-
nificantly better at 12 weeks but at 26 weeks the difference between ment interventions may help to reduce pain and improve knee
the groups was not significant. With regards to pain there was a function in patients with patellar tendinopathy. Certain interven-
slight reduction in pain for both groups at 12 and 26 weeks. tions in this review were proven to be more effective in the
Resteghini et al.11 and Dragoo et al.3 had similar smaller sample short-term including isometric exercise, sports taping and patel-
sizes of 22 and 21 subjects respectively and Vetrano et al.19 had a lar strapping, while others PRP injections and DN proved to have
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T. Vander Doelen and W. Jelley / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 23 (2020) 118–124 123
sustained results and therefore are beneficial for longer term pain included in the review. It is possible that relevant studies published
reduction and functional improvement. in other languages may have been excluded.
In a clinical commentary published in 2015, Malliaras et al.10
emphasized an exercise focused approach to the treatment of patel- 5. Conclusion
lar tendinopathy with passive interventions used only as an adjunct
alongside exercise interventions. They described a four-stage reha- This review of the highest level of evidence found that isomet-
bilitation progression with a focus on developing kinetic chain ric and eccentric exercise, patellar strapping and taping, DN, and
muscle and patellar tendon load tolerance. Stage one is the iso- certain injections have a short-term pain reducing and knee func-
metric loading exercise phase, Stage two is the isotonic exercise tional improvement effect in patients with patellar tendinopathy.
phase, Stage three is the energy storage exercise phase, and stage PRP injections, DN, and eccentric exercise were also shown to be
four is the progressive return to sport phase. significantly effective for long-term pain relief and improvement
The results of this systematic review support incorporating in knee function for patients with patellar tendinopathy. There is
short-term pain relief interventions such as patellar strapping and no current evidence to suggest how to use these potential options
sports taping into all stages of rehabilitation progression. The inter- together for maximum benefit. This review will help clinicians
ventions that showed longer term effect such as PRP injections and select the best non-surgical intervention(s) indicated for patients
DN could be incorporated into Stage two of rehabilitation progres- with patellar tendinopathy based on the current available evidence.
sion.
Key points
4.1. Findings regarding short-term effect
Findings
Isometric and isotonic exercises, patellar strapping, and patellar
taping were shown to result in significant short-term pain reduc-
Numerous non-surgical interventions showed significant
tion in patients with patellar tendinopathy. Isometric contractions
changes in patellar tendon pain and improvement in knee func-
as an exercise intervention were not included in the most recent
tion. Isometric exercise and sports taping and patellar strapping
systematic review by Everhart et al.4 The three studies included in
provided short-term pain relief. Eccentric exercise, DN, PRP, ABI
this review by Rio et al.,12 Van Ark et al.,17 and Rio et al.14 found
and saline injections demonstrated long-term pain relief and
that similar isometric exercise protocols could be very effective for
functional improvement.
immediate pain relief and up to 45 min after exercise. These iso-
metric protocols were shown to be more effective than isotonic
exercise protocols similar to heavy slow resistance (HSR) protocols Implications
demonstrated to be effective in previous research by Konsgaard
et al.6 Konsgaard et al.6 demonstrated that three specific HSR exer- A multimodal approach to patellar tendinopathy management
cises, squat, leg press, and hack squat had good short and long-term should be implemented alongside specific exercise prescription.
clinical and histological tendon effects. The exercise intervention
studies presented in this review used isotonic protocols using 3–4 s Acknowledgements
eccentric and concentric phases, similar to the timing used in the
HSR protocols by Konsgaard et al.6 Unfortunately, the studies did We thank Helen Brown, Reference Librarian at Woodward Sci-
not completely replicate the HSR protocols used by Konsgaard ences Library at the University of British Columbia for her guidance
et al.6 so the results of these studies need to be critically evaluated on literature search strategy and optimization.
for their applicability for patients with patellar tendinopathy. Patel- We thank Patricia Mortensen, Rehabilitation Sciences Program
lar strapping and sports taping were shown by De Vries et al.2 also Manager, for her coordination and creation of the working relation-
had a beneficial short-term effect on pain during and after sport. ship between both authors.
Eccentric exercise, DN and PRP, ABI and saline injections were 2. de Vries A, Zwerver J, Diercks R et al. Effect of patellar strap and sports tape
shown in studies within this review to be effective for longer on pain in patellar tendinopathy: a randomized controlled trial. Scand J Med Sci
Sport 2016; 26:1217–1224.
term pain relief and functional improvement. PRP injections were 3. Dragoo JL, Wasterlain AS, Braun HJ et al. Platelet-rich plasma as a treatment for
shown by Vetrano et al.19 to be more effective than focused ESWT patellar tendinopathy: a double blind, randomized controlled trial. Am J Sport
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4. Everhart JS, Cole D, Sojka JH et al. Treatment options for patellar tendinopathy:
PRP injections were also shown to be more effective for short-
a systematic review. Arthroscopy 2017; 33(4):861–872.
term pain relief than DN, but DN was more effective than PRP 5. Hernandez-Sanchez S, Hidalgo MD, Gomez A. Responsiveness of the VISA-P scale
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Para uso personal exclusivamente. No se permiten otros usos sin autorización. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. Todos los derechos reservados.
124 T. Vander Doelen and W. Jelley / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 23 (2020) 118–124
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