[Tendinopathies: the most effective physiotherapeutic treatments]

Tendinopathy, a current injury often falsely named tendinitis, is a lesion due to an excess load of the tendon with impairment of its collagen fibers. The repair of tendinous fibers requires many weeks; the treatment is a determining factor. There are numerous physiotherapy treatments. We have chosen the most usual ones, controlled their evidence of effectiveness according to the literature and shown which techniques with proven efficacy should be used in every tendinopathy treatment: cold, stretching, eccentric training. If these give no satisfactory results, shock waves could be useful. Ultrasonic therapy is worthless although widely used. Serious studies on other techniques are lacking. An evidence based physiotherapy is of prime importance for the future.