Steroid shots may worsen tennis elbow in the long run.

The AP (2/6, Tanner) reports that “commonly used steroid shots may worsen tennis elbow in the long run and increase chances that the painful condition will reappear, a small study found.” The article points out that “by contrast, patients who got dummy injections alone or with physical therapy were more likely to completely recover after a year and much less likely to have a recurrence than those given steroids.” While the results of the Australian study, published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, “echo previous findings, injections of cortisone or similar steroids are still widely recommended by doctors to treat tennis elbow and similar conditions, probably because they can provide short-term pain relief.”  Comment: this study was also reviewed in the Johns Hopkins weekly podcast.  The most useful take away message is that waiting for improvement is cheaper, simpler, and less expensive than rushing into surgery.  This will require a change in the behavior of Americans that appears to be highly unlikely.

Source: Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG - February 9, 2013 Category: Epidemiologists Authors: cbuttery Tags: Chronic Disease epidemiology Translational Research Source Type: blogs