Most people arrive here having already tried something.
Shockwave therapy is offered across the Harley Street medical district for tendon pain that has not settled. This is an independent guide to what the evidence actually supports, what a private course involves, and how to check who is treating you.
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Reviewed four times by NICE
Safety cleared, efficacy inconsistent
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A second-line option
Studied alongside loading, not instead of it
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A short course, about weekly
Judged weeks after the last session
At a glance
What I Offer
Services built
around you
Shockwave Therapy
The guideA non-invasive treatment that passes acoustic shockwaves through the skin into a painful tendon, offered privately across the Harley Street district for the heel, the Achilles, the elbow, the hip and the shoulder. The guide covers what NICE concluded on each of the four conditions it assessed, and how to read a private quote.
About Shockwave Therapy Harley Street
A guide to one street
and one treatment
Shockwave Therapy Harley Street is an independent guide to 1 treatment in 1 district. It is owned by the UNTIL group, it holds no clinic on the street and it treats nobody. The medical quarter it describes has been accumulating for well over a century: records show around 20 doctors in the area in 1860, 80 by 1900, almost 200 by 1914 and roughly 1,500 by 1948, with more than 3,000 people working in it today.
NICE has assessed extracorporeal shockwave therapy for 4 musculoskeletal conditions, and on all 4 occasions concluded that safety raises no major concerns while the efficacy evidence is inconsistent. It draws the line between low and high energy at 0.12 mJ/mm2, and on Achilles tendinopathy it states that the mechanism by which the treatment might work is not known. A private course is typically several sessions about 1 week apart, judged weeks after the last one rather than after any single visit.
What this site will not do is quote you a price, name a device manufacturer, or tell you the treatment works when 4 sets of national guidance say the evidence is inconsistent. It sets out what is known, says plainly what a smart address does not guarantee, and then connects you to a registered practitioner through UNTIL Health Concierge for an assessment in person.
How It Works
Your journey,
step by step
Read before you pay for a course
Most disappointment with this treatment comes from having it for the wrong problem or at the wrong point. Three of the four NICE documents describe it for a refractory condition, meaning one that has already failed the treatments tried first. The guide on this site sets out what that means before anyone takes a card payment.
Assessment with a registered practitioner
Tell UNTIL Health Concierge what has been going on and they arrange an assessment with a clinician who can examine you. That appointment should be willing to conclude that shockwave is the wrong answer, and to say what the right one is instead. An assessment that cannot reach that conclusion is a sales call.
Check the person who will treat you
Many practitioners in this district hire a consulting room by the session, so an address in W1G describes a building rather than a person. Ask who will deliver the treatment, what their registration is, and who holds clinical responsibility if something goes wrong. The HCPC and GMC registers are public and free to search.
Judge it at the review, against the loading
Shockwave is studied as something added to a loading programme rather than a replacement for it, so the exercises continue throughout. Soreness for one to three days after a session is usual. The result is judged at the review weeks after the final session, against where the pain was before the course started.
FAQ
Common
questions
What is shockwave therapy?
A non-invasive treatment in which a handheld device passes acoustic shockwaves through the skin into the tissue below. Nothing is injected and nothing is cut. In musculoskeletal practice it is used for persistent tendon pain in the heel, the Achilles, the elbow, the hip and the shoulder.
Does shockwave therapy work?
The honest answer is that it depends and the evidence is mixed. NICE has assessed it for four musculoskeletal conditions and concluded each time that the efficacy evidence is inconsistent, while raising no major safety concerns. It is reasonable to consider after a loading programme has genuinely been tried and has not worked.
What does a course of shockwave therapy involve?
An assessment first, then a short course of sessions roughly a week apart, each usually ten to twenty minutes. The loading exercises continue throughout, because that is the treatment the evidence supports. Expect soreness for one to three days after each session, and a review some weeks after the last.
Does shockwave therapy hurt?
Low-energy treatment is uncomfortable rather than painful and needs no anaesthetic. NICE notes that high-energy treatment, above 0.12 mJ per square millimetre, can be painful enough that a local anaesthetic is offered, while also noting evidence that using one may work against the result. Ask which energy your course uses.
Why is this site about Harley Street specifically?
Because the district is where a large share of private musculoskeletal second opinions in London happen, and because an address there is widely read as a guarantee it does not provide. The guide explains what the concentration of clinics genuinely gives you and what you still have to check yourself.
Do you treat people on this site?
No. This site is owned by the UNTIL group and holds no clinic, no treatment room and no machine, on Harley Street or anywhere else. It exists to answer the question properly and then to arrange an assessment with a registered clinician through UNTIL Health Concierge if the treatment suits you.
Is shockwave therapy available on the NHS?
Availability varies by area and by condition, and it is not routinely commissioned everywhere. NICE requires that it is used with special arrangements for clinical governance, consent and audit, which shapes how NHS services offer it. Your GP or the treating department can tell you what is funded locally.
Why does this site cover only musculoskeletal shockwave?
Because that is the use this site is competent to describe and the use the cited guidance covers. Shockwave energy is used in other fields of medicine under different guidance and by different clinicians, and none of that is within the scope of this guide or the assessments it leads to.
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Book today.
Shockwave Therapy Harley Street • UNTIL Marylebone, 1 Orchard Street, London W1H 6HJ
BookAppointments typically available within 1–2 weeks