Abstract: Background: The commonly used medical term for tennis elbow is lateral epicondylitis or common extensor tendinitis. The present study was conducted to compare the efficacy of local corticosteroid injections and autologous blood injections in management of lateral epicondylitis.
Materials and methods: The present study was conducted in the department of Orthopaedics. It comprised of 60 adult patients of lateral epicondylitis (Tennis elbow) of both genders. Patients were divided into 2 groups of 30 each. Group I was given autologous blood injections and group II received methylprednisolone. In all patients pain was assessed as per VAS scale. The results were assessed as excellent, good, fair and poor depending upon the point on VAS scale.
Results: Right side was involved in 18 in group I and 16 in group II, left side was involved in 12 in group I and 14 in group II. Excellent results was seen in 1 in group I and 5 in group II, good 7 in group I and 15 in group II, fair 12 in group I and 10 in group II and poor 10 in group I. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Common complication was white discoloration of skin was seen 1 patients each in both groups and transient pain 4 in group I and 2 in group II.
Conclusion: Authors found that corticosteroid injection was more effective than autologous blood injection in improving pain and function.
