Controlled trial on point specificity of acupuncture in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis (Tennis elbow)

PURPOSE: Aim of this study was to evaluate short and middle term effects of acupuncture in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis under consideration of point specificity. METHODS: 50 patients with lateral epicondylitis were alternately allocated to verum (five classical acupuncture points) or sham acupuncture (five non-classical points with similar depth of insertion and stimulation). The blinded patients received three treatments within ten days. Outcome measures included pressure pain threshold (PPT), pain-free grip strength (GS) and impairment caused by pain (IP). Assessments were performed by an independent (blinded) examiner before, immediately after the first treatment, immediately after the third treatment and 14 days after the third treatment. RESULTS: Immediately after a single treatment patients were improved in both groups, however, 14 days after the third treatments acupuncture was significantly superior to sham acupuncture in all outcome measures. In GS the verum group showed an improvement of 43% compared to 14% in the sham group immediately after the third treatment. 14 days after treatment there was a mean decrease in impairment caused by pain (IP) of 59% in the verum group compared to 24% in the sham group. Similar results were obtained for PPT, but baseline values differed between groups. No adverse effects of acupuncture were reported. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that acupuncture may have point-specific effects and seems to be effective in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis in primary care, if the objective is to obtain pain relief and to improve function.