BMJ  2006;333 (4 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7575.0-c

Best treatment for tennis elbow?

All patients receiving treatment for tennis elbow reported successful outcomes at one year regardless of treatment type, but those receiving physiotherapy sought significantly less additional analgesia. Bisset and colleagues (p 939) randomised 198 patients with untreated tennis elbow to receive one of three interventions: corticosteroid injections, physiotherapy comprising manipulation and taught exercises, and "wait and see" with advice on symptom relief. Corticosteroid injections gave the best results at six weeks but in 72% symptoms recurred and recovery was delayed. Physiotherapy yielded better outcomes in the long term.


Figure 1
Credit: FAY NORMAN/SPL

 


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Related Article

Mobilisation with movement and exercise, corticosteroid injection, or wait and see for tennis elbow: randomised trial
Leanne Bisset, Elaine Beller, Gwendolen Jull, Peter Brooks, Ross Darnell, and Bill Vicenzino
BMJ 2006 333: 939. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Errors In Tennis Elbow Study
Dr A Breck McKay
bmj.com, 3 Nov 2006 [Full text]



Student BMJ

Risk of surgery for inflammatory bowel disease: record linkage studies

What can you learn from this BMJ paper? Read Leanne Tite's Paper+

www.student.bmj.com

Listen to the latest BMJ Interview