Conservative treatment of Achilles tendinopathy: emerging techniques.

Achilles tendinopathy is a painful condition that occurs commonly in both active and inactive individuals. It seems that this condition is painful as a result of ingrowth of neural structures and neovessels leading to poor healing, rather than from inflammatory mediators. Traditional conservative measures are often successful. There is a subset of patients who fail to respond to these measures, however, and this has led to the investigation of newer conservative techniques. This article provides a review of many of the emerging techniques in the treatment of Achilles tendinopathy.