Mesotherapy for tendonitis: my opinion as a physical therapist

Are you wondering whether mesotherapy can help relieve or even heal your tendon pain?

My answers as a physiotherapist who likes to read up!

♻️ Last update: August 16, 2024.
👩‍⚖️ Declaration of financial interests: none directly related to the subject. My complete declaration of financial interests is in the legal notice section.
Written by Nelly Darbois, physiotherapist and scientific editor

A few reminders about mesotherapy

Mesotherapy involves injecting products (drugs or other substances) into the skin, using a 4 to 13 mm long needle or an electronic injector gun.

A mesotherapy session can involve several hundred injections.

Depending on the doctor practising, the technique and product used varies enormously.

Most often, this involves injecting relaxants, anti-inflammatories, vasodilators, vitamins or even antidepressants,
vasodilators, vitamins or even antidepressants. You can ask your doctor before the session which product he or she intends to use, and why!

🚨 Mesotherapy has similarities but differs from :

• acupuncture: stimulating areas of the body with needles, usually without the use of products;
• infiltrations: injection of painkillers into a joint or tendon.

Is it effective against tendonitis?

Here’s what the French Ministry of Health has to say about the effectiveness of mesotherapy, for tendon pain (knee, shoulder, foot, elbow) as for any other indication:

There is currently no scientific validation of the efficacy and safety of these methods.

The effectiveness of mesotherapy has not been proven by rigorous scientific studies.

Nor has the safety of this method been proven by rigorous scientific studies, so caution is advised.

There are very few studies on mesotherapy: less than 300 since the 1970s. It is a very regional practice, widespread mainly in France and Europe.

An Italian research team 🇮🇹 (Faetani 2021) has compiled the highest-quality clinical studies evaluating the benefits and side-effects of mesotherapy for musculoskeletal pain.

Tendon pain (known as “tendinitis”) is part of musculoskeletal pain.

The research team included 7 studies involving just over 200 people.

These people received either mesotherapy for pain, another treatment or a placebo.

Researchers asked people to rate their pain before and after sessions, and looked to see if those who had had mesotherapy described greater relief than others.

This was the case in all studies except one BUT :

• the difference in effect is small (around 1 point out of 10);
• studies remain at high risk of bias.

What is the price and reimbursement of sessions in France?

In general, it’s your GP, rheumatologist or sports medicine doctor who performs mesotherapy, or refers you to a doctor who does.

In this situation, your doctor’s consultation is reimbursed as usual by your social security and mutual insurance company if your doctor is covered by a convention (sector 1 or 2).

However, specific mesotherapy procedures (procedure + products used) are not reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie, if they are billed in addition to the consultation. Depending on your health insurance, coverage may be available.

Your doctor must tell you how much you will have to pay. You can obtain a quote in advance to send to your mutual insurance company to find out what coverage is available.

If your doctor is not covered by a convention, the Assurance Maladie doesn’t cover anything, but your mutual insurance company sometimes does.

Mesotherapy is increasingly used in aesthetics. For sessions to treat joint and tendon pain, prices range from €45 to €120 per session , depending on the practitioner (rates for the first 10 Google results relevant to August 17, 2024).

How long does it take to have an effect?

Mesotherapy sessions are generally carried out at a rate of 1 to 3 sessions per week for at least 2 or 3 weeks.

Normally, effects – whether related to a placebo effect or not – should be observed after 1 to 3 sessions.

What are the possible side effects?

Here are the side effects of mesotherapy reported in studies evaluating it in the context of pain:

• nausea,
• fatigue,
• numbness,
• perspiration,
• headaches,
• bruises,
• temporary bleeding and signs of inflammation,
• pain at the injection site,
• allergic reaction,
• more rarely, infection.

These side effects generally disappear within a few days when they occur, in less than 1 in 4 people.

What else can be done for tendonitis?

Mesotherapy is not one of the treatments suggested by international recommendations on the modern management of pain of tendon origin.

The recommended treatment involves adapting the activities that trigger or increase pain: finding the right level of strain on the tendons so as not to aggravate the pain, without totally avoiding any strain.

You’ll find many articles on my website about the different treatments available for the location of your tendon pain.

Type the name or location of your tendinitis below to find relevant information! Example: knee tendonitis, de quervain’s, shoulder tendonitis, etc.

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That’s all I wanted to say on the subject! Any questions or comments? See you in comments!