At Tahoe Forest Sports Medicine, we offer the TENEX Health TX® procedure, an ultrasound-guided treatment that removes damaged tissue through a tiny incision—without traditional surgery.

TENEX may be an option for patients whose symptoms have not improved with rest, physical therapy, injections, or other conservative treatments.

Hi, my name is Dr. Kari Rezac. I’m a sports medicine physician at Tahoe Forest Health System. Here at Tahoe Forest Health System, we’re offering a new service called TENEX. This is TENEX. TENEX is an ultrasonic blade that allows for better management and recovery of tendinopathies.

So, if you or a friend you know has a chronic tendon problem, this might be a good answer for you. It can help with the hip. It can help with the shoulder, the Achilles, plantar fasciitis. It can help with a bunch of different things.

The reason why it helps is because the ultrasonic blade goes into the tissue itself and takes out or debrides all of the bad tissue, but allows it to keep all the good tissue. So, the ultrasound frequency itself takes out the bad tissue. And again, because of that frequency, it’s not allowed to go into any of the healthy tissue.

Usually, after the procedure, it’s just the same day procedure. We numb you up with local lidocaine, we do the whole procedure. It maybe takes 30 minutes. And then at the end of the procedure, you go then into the rehab program. The rehab program is a little bit long. It’s kind of a step-wise position where you start low and slow and you work your way up. It may take maybe 6, 8, 10 weeks depending on the tendon worked on.

TENEX is a really great option for people who don’t want to have surgery, but want to have some kind of relief with a minimally invasive way to get your tendons feeling better. So, let’s say you’re a pickle baller or a tennis player with really bad lateral or medial epicondilitis or as we say tennis elbow or pickleball elbow or golfer’s elbow, this would be a really good option for you.

For those who do maybe overhead sports again like tennis or just are working hard um in their job and they have supraspinatus or rotator cuff issues. This could also be a really good option for you. If you’ve been having plantar fasciitis and you’re having a hard time and you’re limping around, another really good option for you would be TENEX. About 85% of people have some relief within the first few weeks of the injection.

If you or someone you know may find TENEX helpful or you want to have a bit bigger or better discussion about it, please go ahead and contact us at Tahoe Forest Health System, sports medicine department. Thank you so much for watching. My name is Dr. Kari Rezac. I’m a sports medicine physician at Tahoe Forest Health System.

How TENEX works

  • Tiny 3mm incision with no stitches
  • Ultrasound-guided for precise treatment
  • Outpatient procedure completed in minutes
  • Typically performed with local anesthetic
  • Small adhesive bandage only
  • Most patients return to normal activities in 6–12 weeks

Conditions TENEX may help

  • Rotator cuff / shoulder injuries
  • Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow
  • Triceps injuries
  • Gluteal tendinopathy
  • Hamstring injuries
  • Quadriceps and patellar tendon injuries
  • Achilles tendinopathy
  • Peroneal tendon injuries
  • Plantar fasciitis
  • Plantar fibroma
  • Tendon or plantar fascia calcifications

Benefits of TENEX

  • One-time treatment
  • Minimally invasive alternative to surgery
  • No stitches required
  • Little downtime
  • Typically avoids opioids
  • May reduce the need for extensive physical therapy

What to expect after treatment

Your physician may recommend a short period of rest followed by range-of-motion and strengthening exercises. Recovery instructions vary based on your condition.