Trial reportClinical rehabilitation2025
Does shockwave therapy lead to better pain and function than sham over 12 weeks in people with insertional Achilles tendinopathy? A randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Clinical rehabilitation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Does radial shockwave therapy lead to immediate improvements in pain in people with insertional Achilles tendinopathy? A randomised controlled trial.Clinical rehabilitation · 2026Trial
- Physiotherapy Compared With Shockwave Therapy for the Treatment of Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The American journal of sports medicine · 2025Trial
- Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and radial pressure waves (RPW) May improve post-operative recovery following insertional Achilles tendon surgeries: a case-control pilot study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Achilles tendinopathy.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the efficacy of adding radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy or sham to exercise for people with insertional Achilles tendinopathy.
designA two-armed, parallel-group, explanatory, single-centre, randomised controlled trial within a superiority framework.
settingPrivate clinic.
participantsPeople diagnosed with insertional Achilles tendinopathy who were over 18 years old with a symptom duration of greater than 3 months.
interventionA total of 76 people were randomly assigned (one-to-one ratio) to receive three sessions of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy or sham to the affected side (or most affected side if bilateral). All participants received identical education and exercise. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment - Achilles questionnaire. Measures were recorded at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks.
resultsAt 12 weeks, the questionnaire data were available for 37 people (96%) in the radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy group and 36 people (95%) in the sham group. For the primary outcome, we found no evidence for between-group differences at 6 (3, 95% confidence interval -4.6-10.5) or 12 weeks (4.6, 95% confidence interval -2.5-11.6). There was also no evidence for a between-group difference for any secondary outcome measures at either 6 or 12 weeks (
conclusionThe addition of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy to exercise and education did not lead to improvements in pain, function or other outcomes compared to sham at 6 or 12 weeks among people with insertional Achilles tendinopathy.
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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.