Tennis elbow, formally known as lateral epicondylitis, is an overuse injury caused by activities that include loaded or repeated gripping, and it is most common in adults over age 40. Despite its name, only 10% of those with tennis elbow are tennis players; as many as 15% of workers in repetitive jobs report having it.

Our independent economic analysis examined the cost-effectiveness of physical therapist services compared with steroid injections to manage tennis elbow*. We discovered physical therapy helps patients with tennis elbow avoid the side effects and potential overuse of medications and complications from invasive procedures.

What does this mean?

If you consider the dollar value assigned to the quality-of-life benefits from receiving treatment, minus the payments for services and all the hidden costs of a patient's time, pain, and missed life events; and compare the net result of each treatment, physical therapy comes out ahead by over $10,000.

Physical therapy also helps patients:

• Avoid complications from invasive procedures such as surgery and steroid injections, along with the side effects and potential overuse of topical and oral over-the-counter medications.
• Gain knowledge on pain-relieving treatments they can do at home.
• Reduce short-term pain and healing time.
• Increase grip strength and flexibility, improving blood flow and minimizing recurrence, ultimately contributing to better health and lower risk of having conditions that could require additional health care services down the road.

Learn more about the economic value of physical therapy. 

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*The analysis is based on the 2015 study "Economic Evaluation Favours Physiotherapy but not Corticosteroid Injection as a First-line Intervention for Chronic Lateral Epicondylalgia: Evidence From a Randomized Clinical Trial," by Coombes and colleagues and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

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