Tennis Elbow/Golfer’S Elbow (Epicondylitis Humeri): Drug Therapy

Therapy goals

  • Improvement of symptomatology, i.e., pain relief and improvement of function.

Therapy recommendations

  • Analgesia (pain relief)/antiphlogistics (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs; drugs that inhibit inflammation), as needed
  • See note on cortisone therapy
  • A meta-analysis ( summary of various studies) indicates that conservative therapy for tennis elbow is as good as waiting. The results show the self-limiting nature of the disease in the long-term course.
  • See also under “Further therapy“.

Note due tocortisone therapy

Physiotherapy in combination with cortisone injection does not have a positive effect on the relapse rate of patients or on the possibility of complete recovery. It also has not been shown to affect pain levels or quality of life in the long term.

Other agents

There is insufficient scientific evidence for or against the use of other agents, such as the use of autologous blood injection, autologous conditioned plasma (ACP) therapy, botulinum toxin A, hyaluronic acid, and prolotherapy.