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Review
Tendons – time to revisit inflammation
  1. Jonathan D Rees1,
  2. Matthew Stride2,
  3. Alex Scott3
  1. 1Department of Rheumatology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
  2. 2Isokinetic Medical Group, FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, London, UK
  3. 3Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jonathan D Rees, Department of Rheumatology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK; j.rees{at}doctors.org.uk

Abstract

It is currently widely accepted among clinicians that chronic tendinopathy is caused by a degenerative process devoid of inflammation. Current treatment strategies are focused on physical treatments, peritendinous or intratendinous injections of blood or blood products and interruption of painful stimuli. Results have been at best, moderately good and at worst a failure. The evidence for non-infammatory degenerative processes alone as the cause of tendinopathy is surprisingly weak. There is convincing evidence that the inflammatory response is a key component of chronic tendinopathy. Newer anti-inflammatory modalities may provide alternative potential opportunities in treating chronic tendinopathies and should be explored further.

  • Immune Function
  • Immunology
  • Tendons

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2012-091957

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