Trial reportSports health
Line- and Point-Focused Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for Achilles Tendinopathy: A Placebo-Controlled RCT Study.
Trial report in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07685509 (Comparison of Two Treatment Methods for Achilles Tendon Pain With a Focus on Pain, Function, Vascular Ingrowth, Immune Cell Response, and Cell Composition), which is not on this map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Comparison of Two Treatment Methods for Achilles Tendon Pain With a Focus on Pain, Function, Vascular Ingrowth, Immune Cell Response, and Cell Composition
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The effectiveness of shockwave therapy on patellar tendinopathy, Achilles tendinopathy, and plantar fasciitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Pooled it
- Focused shock wave and ultrasound therapies in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis - a randomized control trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Is Exercise Enough? Evidence from Controlled Clinical Trials on Rehabilitation with and Without Adjunct Modalities for Musculoskeletal Disorders.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Consensus statement on the clinical application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy for diabetic foot ulcers (2025 Edition).International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026Article
- Recent developments in Achilles tendon risk-analyzing rupture factors for enhanced injury prevention and clinical guidance: Current implications of regenerative medicine.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2024Review
- Efficacy of shock wave therapy and ultrasound therapy in non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy: a randomised clinical trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- The Efficacy of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy as a Monotherapy for Achilles Tendinopathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of chiropractic medicine · 2023Review
- Therapeutic effects following extracorporeal shock wave therapy for insertional and non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy.Asia-Pacific journal of sports medicine, arthroscopy, rehabilitation and technology · 2023Article
- Regional shear wave elastography of Achilles tendinopathy in symptomatic versus contralateral Achilles tendons.European radiology · 2023Article
- Low intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy for chronic pelvic pain syndrome: Long-term follow-up.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2023Article
- The Effectiveness of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy for Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2022Review
- Clinical Application of Shock Wave in the Treatment of Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head in the Early and Middle Stages.Contrast media & molecular imaging · 2022Article
- The efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave combined with platelet rich plasma in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis with meniscus injury: A retrospective analysis.Pakistan journal of medical sciencesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExtracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a widely considered treatment option for Achilles tendinopathy. Line-focused ESWT is a novel technique treating a larger tendon area than point-focused ESWT. Monitoring capacities of clinical symptoms with ultrasound under ESWT treatment are unknown. HYPOTHESIS: Point- and line-focused ESWT have a superior outcome than placebo ESWT. ESWT leads to morphological tendon changes detectable with ultrasound. STUDY
designSingle-blinded placebo-controlled randomized contolled trial. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 1.
methodsThe study was conducted in 3 cohorts, namely ESWT point (n = 21), ESWT line (n = 24), and ESWT placebo (n = 21). Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment-Achilles (VISA-A) score was measured before the intervention (T0), after 6 weeks (T1), and after 24 weeks (T2). All cohorts performed daily physiotherapy for 24 weeks and received 4 sessions of point-focused, line-focused, or placebo ESWT in the first 6 weeks. Ultrasound was performed with B-mode, power Doppler, shear wave elastography (SWE) at T0 and T2 and with ultrasound tissue characterization (UTC) at T0, T1, and T2. Data were analyzed with a mixed analysis of variance and
resultsThere was a significant VISA-A improvement over time for all groups (
conclusionThere is a significant VISA-A score improvement for all study groups without a statistically significant benefit for ESWT point or ESWT line compared with ESWT placebo. Tendon adaptation could only be detected with SWE for ESWT point. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The present study could not detect any statistically relevant effect of ESWT compared to placebo. SWE is able to demonstrate tendon adaptation.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.