Conservative treatments for tennis elbow do subgroups of patients respond differently?

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine if subgroups of patients with tennis elbow respond differently in treatment. METHODS: This study used individual patient data (n = 383) from two randomized controlled trials that investigated a wait-and-see policy, corticosteroid injections and physiotherapy. Common outcome measures were: pain severity, global improvement, severity assessed by a blinded assessor, elbow disability and pain free grip strength. Subgroup analyses for previous history of elbow pain, baseline pain severity, duration of the current episode and employment status were performed at 6 and 52 weeks. RESULTS: Patients' age, previous elbow symptoms and baseline pain severity were similar between t..