Corticosteroid injections, physiotherapy, or a wait-and-see policy for lateral epicondylitis: a randomised controlled trial.

TLDR: C corticosteroid injections were significantly better than all other therapy options for all outcome measures, and physiotherapy had better results than a wait-and-see policy, but differences were not significant.

About: This article is published in The Lancet.The article was published on 2002-02-23 and is currently open access. It has received 648 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Epicondylitis & Tennis elbow.

Figures

Table 1: Baseline characteristics

Figure 1: Trial profile *One patient missed assessment at 3 weeks due to holiday; †one patient missed assessment at 12 weeks due to a car accident.

Table 4: Adverse reactions during 6-week intervention period

Table 3: Improvement in primary and secondary outcome measures

Table 2: Additional treatments during follow-up (6–52 weeks)

Figure 2: Success rates of three treatment regimens

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions in this paper?

In view of the absence of scientific data for the effectiveness of active interventions and the benign course of lateral epicondylitis, the clinical guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners recommend a wait-and-see policy, including ergonomic advice and prescription of pain medication if necessary this paper.