Epidemiology

Tendinopathy affects millions of people in athletic and occupational settings as well as the general population.[7][8][9] Because tendinopathy affects such a diverse population and can occur at different sites, the true incidence is unknown.

It is estimated that half of all sports injuries are secondary to over-use. Of these injuries, the muscle-tendon unit is the most commonly affected.[10] Approximately 10% of runners develop Achilles' tendinopathy, which tends to affect men aged >30 years.[11] Patellar tendinopathy usually affects young adults in their teens to 30s, but can also occur in older individuals.[12] There is a 1% to 3% annual incidence of lateral epicondylitis, which affects men and women equally. It is more common in people aged >40 years.[13]

A registry-based study in Denmark found that patients with tendinopathies were significantly older than all registered patients (46.0 years vs. 38.8 years, respectively).[14] The Achilles' tendinopathy incidence rate was 1.7 per 1000 patients, with a prevalence of 5.2 per 1000 patients.[14] The authors concluded that, in a general practice with 5000 patients, primary care clinicians may anticipate seeing in excess of 80 patients with a lower-extremity tendinopathy each year.[14]

A cross-sectional study performed in a general practice population in the Netherlands reported lower-extremity tendinopathy incidence and prevalence rates of 10.5 and 11.8 per 1000 person years, respectively.[15]

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