Treatment of lateral epicondylitis with collagen injections: A pilot study

Background. Lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow, is the prevalent cause of elbow pain among adults. Collagen injections are used to treat different musculoskeletal disorders. Type I porcine collagen has proved to enhance tendon repair in vitro. Aims of the present pilot study were to verify the effects of type I porcine collagen injections on pain and disability in patients with tennis elbow and therefore to check if there are grounds for carry out a randomized controlled trial. Methods. Fifty patients, who have been suffering lateral epicondylitis for at least 6 months, were treated with a series of 5 type I porcine collagen injections, at weekly intervals. The Patient-Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation questionnaire was employed to verify the effects of collagen injections at 1-month and 3-month follow-up. Results. As regards the baseline, the total score showed an average reduction of 57% (55% in terms of pain and 58% in terms of function) at 1-month follow-up and an average reduction of 66.1% (68.9% in terms of pain and 63.2% in terms of function) at 3-month follow-up. The results were statistically significant (p<0.05) according to the Kruskal-Wallis test. Conclusions. Up until now there were no studies about treatment of tennis elbow with collagen injections. Compared to other regenerative injection therapies, collagen injections seemed to be one of the most effective and fast-acting. The positive findings of this pilot study can be the bases for conducting clinical trials with higher level of evidence.