
Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Tennis elbow medical therapy
Introduction
Medical Therapy
Medical Therapy
Local steroid injections
Intra-articular glucocorticoid steroid injections can resolve episodes for several months, but there is a risk of later recurrence. Following an injection, the patient normally experiences increased pain over the subsequent day before the steroid starts to settle the condition over the next few days[1]. As with any steroid injection, there is a small risk of local infection and tendon rupture. Most doctors will restrict giving further courses after two injections, as there is less likelihood of effectiveness but increased risk of side-effects.
As opposed to short-term effect[2] , the longterm benefits of local steroid injection are less clearly established.[3]
References
References
- ↑ Lewis M, Hay EM, Paterson SM, Croft P (2005). “Local steroid injections for tennis elbow: does the pain get worse before it gets better?: Results from a randomized controlled trial”. Clin J Pain. 21 (4): 330–4. PMID 15951651.
- ↑ Green S, Buchbinder R, Barnsley L, Hall S, White M, Smidt N, Assendelft W (2002). “Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for treating lateral elbow pain in adults”. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2): CD003686. PMID 12076503.
- ↑ Altay T, Gunal I, Ozturk H (2002). “Local injection treatment for lateral epicondylitis”. Clin Orthop Relat Res (398): 127–30. PMID 11964641.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
