The Effect of Prolotherapy on Lateral Epicondylitis of Elbow.

, Shin, Ju Yon; , Seo, Kyung Mook; , Kim, Don Kyu; , Kim, Baek Kon; , Kang, Si Hyun

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine 2002;26(6):764-768.

Shin, Ju Yon , Seo, Kyung Mook , Kim, Don Kyu , Kim, Baek Kon , Kang, Si Hyun

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungang University College of Medicine, Korea. drshin7@korea.com

주관절 외측 상과염에서의 프로로테라피의 효과

신주연·서경묵·김돈규·김백곤·강시현

중앙대학교 의과대학 재활의학교실

Abstract

Objective
To determine the effect of prolotherapy on lateral epicondylitis, and the difference of treatment effect according to the findings of ultrasonography.
Method
The subjects were 84 patients who were diagnosed as lateral epicondylitis. The pain score was evaluated by using VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) before treatment and 1 month and 6 months after the 3rd injection. Ultrasonography was done to 49 patients who were suspicious of tendinous tear.
Results
In the comparison of the VAS before treatment and after the 3rd injection, it was 6.79⁑0.88, 2.95⁑1.90, respectively, which demonstrated statistical significant decrease (p＜0.01). We found more significant reduction of VAS in the subjects without tendinous tear (7.08⁑0.91 to 2.16⁑1.57) than those with partial tendinous tear (6.90⁑0.93 to 3.67⁑1.76) (p＜0.01). Among 71 patients whose symptom was improved after the treatment, 57 patients (80.2%) demonstrated sustained improvement at 9 months and 14 patients (19.7%) relapsed at 9 months.
Conclusion
Prolotherapy is an effective treatment method in the lateral epicondylitis of elbow. Ultrasonography could be a useful diagnostic method which could predict the effect of prolotherapy. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2002; 26: 764-768)

Key Words: Prolotherapy, Lateral epicondylitis, Ultrasonography, Partial tear, Non-tear