How Shockwave Therapy Helps Tendinopathies: The Wake Up Call For Tendon's
If you’ve ever had tendon pain that just doesn’t seem to go away, whether it’s your Achilles, elbow, shoulder or knee, you’ll know how frustrating it can be. You rest it, stretch it, maybe even strengthen it, but it still lingers. This is often because tendinopathy isn’t a simple injury, it’s more like a tendon that has stopped responding properly to the body’s normal healing process.
Shockwave therapy is one of the tools we use to help “wake the tendon up” and get it healing again.
First, What Is Tendinopathy?
Think of a healthy tendon like a strong, neatly organised rope. The fibres run parallel, making it efficient at transferring force from muscle to bone.
With tendinopathy, that rope becomes a bit frayed and disorganised. Not snapped, but messy, weaker, and more sensitive. The body hasn’t fully repaired it, and it can get stuck in this state, causing ongoing pain and stiffness.
So How Does Shockwave Help?
Shockwave therapy uses sound waves to stimulate the tendon and encourage healing. A small handheld device delivers pulses into the painful area. It might sound high-tech, but the principle behind it is actually quite simple.
A helpful way to think about it is this:
Shockwave is like pressing the reset button on a tendon that has fallen asleep.
Here’s what’s happening inside your body:
- It Increases Blood Flow
Tendons naturally have a poor blood supply, which is one reason they heal slowly. Shockwave encourages more circulation to the area, bringing oxygen and nutrients that support repair.
- It Stimulates Tissue Repair
Shockwave encourages the production of collagen, which is the main building block of tendon tissue. This helps the tendon become stronger and more organised again, like re-aligning the fibres of that frayed rope.
- It Reduces Pain Sensitivity
Shockwave can help calm down pain signals from the tendon. This doesn’t just mask the pain, it helps change how sensitive the area is, making movement more comfortable.
- It Restarts the Healing Process
In long-standing tendinopathy, the body has often stopped actively repairing the tissue. Shockwave essentially reminds the body that healing needs to happen.
What Does Treatment Feel Like?
Shockwave can feel slightly uncomfortable during the session, particularly over sensitive areas, but it’s very manageable and adjustable. It should not be a 10/10 on the pain scale. Most sessions last around 5–10 minutes, with the rest of the session going through exercises. Most people can continue with normal daily activities afterwards.
Some mild soreness afterwards is normal, similar to how muscles feel after exercise, and usually settles quickly.
It Works Best Alongside Strengthening
Shockwave isn’t a magic fix on its own. Think of it as creating the right environment for healing, but strengthening exercises are what rebuild the tendon’s capacity.
Shockwave helps reduce pain and stimulate repair, while rehabilitation exercises help make the tendon stronger, more resilient, and better able to tolerate load in the future.
The Goal: Getting You Back to What You Enjoy
Whether your goal is running, golf, gym training, or simply walking without pain, the aim of shockwave therapy is to help move your tendon out of that “stuck” phase and back into recovery.
When used alongside the right rehabilitation plan, shockwave therapy can be a very effective way to help stubborn tendon pain finally settle and keep it away.
If you’ve been dealing with persistent tendon pain, getting the right diagnosis and treatment plan can make all the difference.
Get in touch with us today if you are struggling with ongoing pain, shockwave could be the answer you have been looking for!