"RESEARCH GIVES STEROID SHOTS THE ELBOW"

I've just read an interesting article about steroid injections for tennis elbow which I thought I would share.

'Physiotherapy plus a placebo injection gave better results in four weeks than corticosteroid injections for patients with an elbow complaint, say researchers.

Those who had real steroid shots made the poorest recovery and were most likely to have a recurrence.

The Australian team was investigating common treatments for tennis elbow.  Their 165 adult volunteers, who had all had the condition in one arm for at least six weeks, were divided into four groups.

One group received a steroid injection, those in the second received a placebo injection, the third had hands-on physio and exercises plus a real injection, the fourth had the same physiotherapy but with a fake injection.

All the groups had advice on what activities to avoid plus information about pain relief, anti-inflammatories, medical devices such as braces, and use of heat and cold.

After four weeks, those receiving physiotherapy with a fake injection had most relief from pain and disability.  Though the effects weren't statistically signifcant after a year, those having physio used less pain-relief medication and were also least likely to have a recurrence.

At the end of a year, those who had had a real steroid injection were least likely to be much improved or fully recovered.

Coombes BK et al.  Effect of Corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral epicondylalgia.  Journal of the American Medical Association 2013,: 309: 461-469, doi:10.1001/jama.2013.129'  sited in Frontline 17 April 2013 Vole 19 No 7