Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun 15;8(1):142.
doi: 10.1186/s13643-019-1058-9.

Exercise therapy in the treatment of tendinopathies of the lower limbs: a protocol of a systematic review

Yuri Rafael Dos Santos Franco  1 , Gisela Cristiane Miyamoto  2 , Katherinne Ferro Moura Franco  2 , Rodrigo Ribeiro de Oliveira  3 , Cristina Maria Nunes Cabral  2
Affiliations

Exercise therapy in the treatment of tendinopathies of the lower limbs: a protocol of a systematic review

Yuri Rafael Dos Santos Franco et al. Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: Tendinopathies are specific degenerative conditions of the tendon characterized by pain and disability. The most common tendinopathies of the lower limbs are patellar, Achilles, gluteal, and proximal tendinopathy of the hamstring muscles. Exercise therapy has been studied for the treatment of these tendinopathies; however, different types of muscle contraction, exercise, dose, and intensity are found in the literature, which can make choosing the best treatment option difficult. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the available evidence about the effectiveness of exercise therapy in the treatment of patients with lower limb tendinopathies and the effects of different types of exercise therapy in the treatment of these patients.

Methods: The search strategy will be performed in the following databases: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL. The inclusion criteria of the studies will be randomized controlled trials with patients with one of the following tendinopathies: patellar, Achilles, gluteal, and proximal tendinopathy of the hamstring muscles. The primary outcomes will be pain and disability. The intervention will be exercise therapy, and the comparators will be different types of exercise, control groups, or any other type of intervention.

Discussion: Other systematic reviews have been published about the prescription of exercise therapy in the treatment of tendinopathies of the lower limbs. However, the results of these reviews are limited to only one type of tendinopathy or specific exercise. Because some of these reviews are also outdated, this systematic review will investigate whether exercise therapy is more effective than any other type of intervention and if there is a best form of exercise therapy, considering modality, dose, and intensity, for the treatment of lower limb tendinopathies. Furthermore, this study will present data related to the sample size, recruitment period, methodological quality, and visibility of the eligible studies.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO ( CRD42018093011 ).

Keywords: Exercise prescription; Exercise therapy; Lower limb tendinopathies; Systematic review; Tendinopathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Magnusson SP, Aagaard P, Rosager S, Dyhre-Poulsen P, Kjaer M. Load-displacement properties of the human triceps surae aponeurosis in vivo. J Physiol. 2001;531(1):277–288. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7793.2001.0277j.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Magnusson SP, Langberg H, Kjaer M. The pathogenesis of tendinopathy: balancing the response to loading. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2010;6(5):262–268. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2010.43. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maffulli N, Benazzo F. Basic science of tendons. Sports Med Arthrosc Rev. 2000;8(1):1–5. doi: 10.1097/00132585-200008010-00001. - DOI
    1. Vailas A, Tipton C, Laughlin H, Tcheng T, Matthes R. Physical activity and hypophysectomy on the aerobic capacity of ligaments and tendons. J Appl Physiol. 1978;44(4):542–546. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1978.44.4.542. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Oliveira RR, Medina de Mattos R, Magalhaes Rebelo L, Guimaraes Meireles Ferreira F, Tovar-Moll F, Eurico Nasciutti L, et al. Experimental diabetes alters the morphology and nano-structure of the Achilles tendon. PLoS One. 2017;12(1):e0169513. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169513. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types