Extracorporeal shock-wave therapy (ESWT) is suggested as a treatment alternative for calcific and non-calcific rotator cuff tendinosis (RC-tendinosis), which may decrease the need for surgery. In this study we assessed the evidence for effectiveness of ESWT for these disorders. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Pedro, and Cinahl were searched for relevant systematic reviews and RCTs. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the methodological quality. Seventeen RCTs (11 calcific, 6 non-calcific) were included. For calcific RC-tendinosis, strong evidence was found for effectiveness in favour of high-ESWT versus low-ESWT in short-term. Moderate evidence was found in favour of high-ESWT versus placebo in short-, mid- and long-term and versus low-ESWT in mid- and long-term. Moreover, high-ESWT was more effective (moderate evidence) with focus on calcific deposit versus focus on tuberculum major in short- and long-term. RSWT was more effective (moderate evidence) than placebo in mid-term. For non-calcific RC-tendinosis, no strong or moderate evidence was found in favour of low-, mid- or high-ESWT versus placebo, each other, or other treatments. This review shows that only high-ESWT is effective for treating calcific RC-tendinosis. No evidence was found for the effectiveness of ESWT to treat non-calcific RC-tendinosis.

No evidence for effectiveness of conservative treatment compared with surgery was found. Although there is moderate evidence for the effectiveness of some surgical interventions, no unequivocal evidence for the superiority of 1 particular surgical treatment was found. Worldwide, most patients receive supplementary implants; however, cervical discectomy without graft may be preferred because of similar outcomes, lower costs, and possibly a lower risk of adjacent-level disease. More high-quality RCTs using validated outcome measures (including adjacent level disease) are needed.

Some physiotherapeutic treatments seem to be promising (moderate evidence) to treat SIS, but more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

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