Comparison between prolotherapy using 25% dextrose versus extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the management of pain and improvement of functional outcome in patients suffering from chronic lateral epicondylitis: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Lateral epicondylitis is a tendinopathy characterized by pain around the lateral aspect of the elbow occuring more frequently in nonathletes than athletes significantly affecting the patient’s life in terms of the quantity and quality of work done. In resistant cases of tennis elbow, a number of treatment options have been tried including extracorporeal shockwave therapy, autologous blood injections and surgery as last resort but none of them has proved to be superior over another. Recent studies show that 25% dextrose prolotherapy which induces an inflammatory reaction at site of administration would be a better treatment option in resistant cases.Methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was done in Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal to compare the effectiveness of 25% dextrose prolotherapy injection and extracorporeal shockwave therapy in management of pain and improvement of functional outcome in patients suffering from chronic lateral epicondylitis.Results: The outcome variables VAS for pain and Grip strength for function were measured at baseline, 1 month, 3 months and 6months. Data collected were analysed using SPSS version 21. For analytical purpose, description statistics like mean and standard deviation were used. Statistical tests like t-test, Chi square test, Fisher’s exact test were used for intra group and inter group analysis. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant. In study group 2ml of 25% dextrose mixed with 2% lignocaine (0.5ml) was given to the affected lateral epicondyle. In control group, weekly sessions of single sitting ESWT was given to the lateral epicondyle for 3 consecutive weeks. In the follow up assessment at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months, there was significant improvement in mean score of VAS and Grip Strength scores in both the groups (p<0.05). When both the groups were compared with each other, study group showed a better improvement and was found to be significantly more effective than shockwave therapy group in reducing pain and improvement of functional outcome in chronic lateral epicondylitis (p = 0.001).Conclusions: Prolotherapy may be considered as a novel alternative conservative management before opting for surgery in resistant cases of lateral epicondylitis.

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Open release versus radiofrequency microtenotomy in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis: a prospective randomized controlled trial

Shoulder & Elbow ◽

10.1177/1758573217715255 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 45-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Katharine Hamlin ◽

Christopher Munro ◽

Scott L. Barker ◽

Sean McKenna ◽

Kapil Kumar

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Grip Strength ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Numerical Rating Scale ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Lateral Epicondylitis ◽

Open Release ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Significant Difference

Background Optimal surgical treatment of lateral epicondylitis remains uncertain. Recently, radiofrequency microtenotomy (RFMT) has been proposed as a suitable treatment. We compared RFMT with standard open release (OR) in this prospective randomized controlled trial. Methods In total, 41 patients with symptoms for at least 6 months were randomized into two groups: 23 patients had RFMT and 18 had OR. Two patients from RFMT withdrew. Each patient underwent Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) pain score, grip strength and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) scores pre-operatively and at 6 weeks. Pain and DASH scores were repeated at 6 months and 12 months. Results NRS pain scores improved by 4.8 points for RFMT and by 3.9 points for OR. There was a significant improvement in both groups from pre-operative scores, although there was no statistically significant difference between the groups at 1 year. Grip strength improved by 31% in the RFMT group compared to 38% in OR. There was no significant difference between the initial and 6 weeks scores or between treatments. At 1 year, DASH was 39.8 points for RFMT and 24.4 points for OR. There was a significant improvement in both groups from pre-operative scores, although there was no statistically significant difference between the groups at 1 year. Conclusions Both groups showed significant improvements and similar benefit to the patient. The results of the present study do not show any benefit of RFMT over the standard OR. As a result of the extra expense of RFMT, we therefore recommend that OR is offered as the standard surgical management.

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