CHIROPRACTIC BEST FOR TENNIS ELBOW

Tennis elbow can be caused by a variety of sports, work and recreational activities, and there’s more than one way to bring about a cure. The results of recent research point to manipulation and physiotherapy as a better way to bring lasting relief than commonly administered injections.

“Lateral epicondylitis” is the technical name for this painful condition that affects the outer part of the arm. The tendons connected to the upper arm bone (the humerus) can become strained, worn or torn resulting in a painful condition. Sometimes this occurs over time and with repetitive motion. In other reported cases, it can happen with a single jolt or awkward motion.

Researchers in Australia were interested in learning if the commonly administered injection of corticosteroid was really the most suitable treatment option. Corticosteroid is known to able to bring quick relief, but the question remained regarding more long-term benefits.

The study was designed to evaluate the differences between three treatments: wait and see, manipulation with physiotherapy and injections. There were 198 men and women between the ages of 18 and 65, who had not received any other active treatmentby a healthcare practitioner in the previous six months were involved in the study.

The wait and see group did just that; the physiotherapy group received 8 sessions of manipulations; and the injection group received 2 shots. All of this occurred over a 6-week period.

Those receiving injections reported symptom relief at 6 weeks, but there was a high recurrence of pain rate after that with 47 to 65 patients regressing (returning to their previous condition). Manipulation with physiotherapy proved superior to injections in the long term after providing better results in the short term than wait and see.

Researchers said that the combination of elbow manipulation and exercis such as a chiropractor can provide should be considered a very reasonable alternative to injections as the short term benefits of drugs were mostly reversed at the end of 6 weeks.

http://www.chiropracticresearchreview.com/crr/sub_topic.php?id=20

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