Education plus exercise for persistent gluteal tendinopathy improves quality of life and is cost-effective compared with corticosteroid injection and wait and see: economic evaluation of a randomised trial

Abstract

Question: For patients with gluteal tendinopathy, what is the cost utility from health system and societal perspectives of three management approaches: education plus exercise, ultrasound-guided corticosteroid injection or wait and see? Design: Economic evaluation alongside a three-group, parallel, randomised clinical efficacy trial. Participants: People aged between 35 and 70 years with image-confirmed gluteal tendinopathy were recruited via advertisements. Interventions: Education plus exercise, consisting of 14 visits to a physiotherapist, with detailed instruction on tendinopathy management, twice weekly supervised exercise sessions, daily home exercises, a handout and a CD; corticostero..