Introduction: The Achilles tendon is the longest and one of the strongest tendons in the human body. One of common failure, that occurs because of the repetitive overload, is Achilles tendinopathy. Achilles tendinopathy is a condition where the main symptoms are loss of muscular strength, pain, swelling, increased sensitivity and stiffness of surrounding soft tissues. The treatment is first conservative, then in case of failure they perform surgery. Extracorporeal shock waves are one of the newest conservative methods of treatment. Purpose: The purpose of dissertation is to, based on review of professional and scientific literature, present the efficiency of treating Achilles tendinopathy with extracorporeal shock wave therapy. Methods: Literature was searched using PEDro, PubMed and Conchrane Library. The following inclusion criteria were used: free access texts with full text in English language, randomized controlled trials published between 2005 and 2019, studies which studied the efficiency of treatment of Achilles tendinopathy with extracorporeal shock waves. Results: Based on our inclusion criteria, seven studies were included in the review. They used different scores and questionnaires to evaluate the efficiency of influence on pain and function. The results show that both, low energy and high energy extracorporeal shock waves are effective in reducing pain and improving function in patients with Achilles tendinopathy. Discussion and conclusion: Despite positive results that extracorporeal shock wave therapy is safe and effective method for treatment of Achilles tendinopathy, further studies are needed. Especially studies, where they will compare different amount of energy flux density in order to determine a standard protocol for treatment. Further more studies, with follow up are needed in order to explain the long-term effects of extracorporeal shock waves.
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