Comparative study of peppering versus single injection technique in treatment of chronic lateral epicondylitis elbow

Abstract

Aim: To compare the effectiveness of peppering technique with single injection technique by using steroid along with local anaesthetic injection in the treatment of chronic lateral epicondilitis(LE) of Elbow. Materials and Methods: In this prospective randomized study, conducted among 66 patients. All patients were divided into two equal groups: peppering technique group (PRI) and single injection technique group (SNI), based on the injection technique. The patients in both groups were treated with local injection of a steroid(1ml Methylprednisolone) and local-anesthetic agent(1ml lignocaine). The effect was measured by change in elbow pain intensity as per Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. We included patients with Chronic LE of at least 6months duration while patients who have taken previous local steroid injections and uncontrolled diabetes were excluded. Patients were followed up at 2weeks, 6weeks and 6months. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 software was used for all statistical calculations. Results: In this study, 66 patients were included (34 male & 32 female) with the most affected between 30-60 years. In our study, there was considerably lesser VAS score at 2 weeks, at 6 weeks and at 6 months follow-ups in both the groups comparing to the pre-injection VAS. At 6-months, the good results were 90%(n=30) in the PRI group compared to 72%(n=24) in SNI group. Thus the success rate for Peppering technique is significantly higher than the single-injection technique. Conclusion: In our study we conclude that peppering injection technique is better than single injection technique in terms of reduced pain which was assessed by VAS in the treatment of chronic lateral epicondylitis of elbow in the long-term follow up. Keywords: Tennis elbow treatment, Local injection, Corticosteroid, Chronic lateral epicondylitis, Peppering technique