Unlocking the Hidden Effects of Shockwave: Longitudinal Changes in Sensorimotor Function and Kinesiophobia in Adolescents With Patellar Tendinopathy

Unlocking the Hidden Effects of Shockwave: Longitudinal Changes in Sensorimotor Function and Kinesiophobia in Adolescents With Patellar Tendinopathy

Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is a commonly used term for the clinical manifestation of patellar tendon pain and functional limitation with multifactorial etiology. It occurs in both athletes and general population in all age groups. It is often characterized as an overuse injury resulting from chronic failure of the healing response that is not strictly linked to inflammatory or degenerative processes.

Once enrolled, participants were examined by a physiotherapist, and received the first application of ESWT (week 0). At weekly intervals, they received three more applications and on the day of the last application (week 3), a control clinical examination was performed. In the 12th-week follow-up after the last application week 15), a final examination including joint position sense, balance and kinesiophobia evaluation was performed.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Has patellar tendon pain, which limits (at least in part) the quality of normal daily.
• Has clinical manifestation of PT (pain and impaired function) confirmed by a clinician.
• Has symptoms only in one leg, the other one is asymptomatic.
• Normal BMI.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any contraindication for ESWT is present (according to the International Society for Medical Shockwave Treatment [ISMST] consensus at https://shockwavetherapy.org).
• They were aware of any symptomatic mechanical tendon damage in the past (e.g. partial or complete rupture in relation to the injury), neurological, oncological, or systemic disease (e.g. neuropathy, lupus or rheumatic arthritis) coexists
• They were already treated for PT elsewhere up to 3 months prior to the study (e.g. platelet- rich plasma therapy, physiotherapy incl. resistance training or ESWT).