Publication:

Functional outcome after autologous blood injection for tennis elbow

Background Tennis elbow is one of most common conditions found in athletes involved in upper limb sports. It has been reported that local injection of autologous blood in tennis elbow offers significant benefit by providing the necessary cellular and humoral mediators to induce a healing cascade. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of autologous blood injection in the treatment of tennis elbow.

Methods 30 consecutive patients involved in upper limb sports and suffering from tennis elbow for more than 3 months duration not responsive to oral medication or other non-invasive treatment were given local injection of 2 ml autologous blood. Patients were assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and Nirschl scores before giving injection and at 1, 4, 8 and 12 weeks also at 6 and 9 months, repeat injection was given at 8 weeks if pain persisted.

Results After Autologous blood injection (ABI) at 4 weeks there is significant (P <0.001) decrease in VAS pain score and Nirschl score. Though VAS pain score and Nirschl stage continued to improve after 8 weeks, but statistically not significant.

Conclusions Autologous blood injection significantly improved clinical function and pain scores in patients with chronic tennis elbow who had previously undergone unsuccessful non-invasive treatment.