Table 2a.

Inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria for Achilles tendon injury.

Criteria
Inclusion criteria	1. Full-text available;
	2. Written in English;
	3. Articles published in the last 20 years;
	4. Articles containing original data;
	5. Studies must be related to “macrophages” in the tendon tissue;
	6. Achilles related studies;
	7. Macrophages related number or proportion were measured in a quantitative or semi-quantitative format;
	8. The quantification/semi-quantification of macrophages cell numbers had to involve the use of specific cell markers (CD68, CD80, CD86, CD163, and CD206) as defined by the individual studies.
Exclusion criteria	1. No control group (control group was defined as either a healthy tendon or a division between different tendinopathy groups);
	2. Patients only with infective or known ​“inflammatory” tendon disease without subgroup analysis of tendon structural damage;
	3. In vitro studies;
	4. Sampling method described inconsistently;
	5. Staining methods not using specific markers;
	6. Case reports, case series, review articles, letters or chapters;
	7. Not available in English language.