Lateral elbow pain (LEP), commonly known as tennis elbow, is a common disorder with a prevalence of at least 1-3% among the general population. It is a significant health burden because it affects work productivity and the quality of life of LEP sufferers. Currently there is no ideal treatment for LEP. The most common treatments for LEP are steroid injections, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or a regime of physiotherapy with various modalities.
Steroid injections have a short-term (two to six weeks) effect in improving symptoms whereas NSAIDs have a smaller effect than steroid injections. Evidence is lacking for the efficacy of physiotherapy.
Furthermore, there is no evidence regarding the efficacy in the long term use of current conservative treatment options, and the potential side effects such as skin atrophy and depigmentation [6] limit the use of steroid injections. The need for a safe and effective treatment for LEP is therefore paramount.
Moderate quality studies suggest that acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture. Furthermore, using stick-on moxa enables such interpretations of findings regarding acupuncture vs. conventional treatment. Acupuncture and moxibustion combined vs. manual acupuncture alone are limited by the methodological qualities of these studies.
Future studies with improved methodological design are warranted to confirm the efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion for LEP.
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