Acupuncture helps Tennis Elbow

Trinh KV et al. Acupuncture for the alleviation of lateral epicondyle pain: a systematic review.
Rheumatology 2004; 43: 1085-90.

A systematic review that evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for lateral epicondylitis. Six randomised controlled trials (four sham-controlled) were included. All the studies suggested that acupuncture was effective in the short-term relief of lateral epicondyle pain. Five of the six studies indicated that acupuncture treatment was more effective compared to a control treatment. The reviewers concluded that there was strong evidence suggesting that acupuncture is effective in the short-term relief of lateral epicondyle pain.

Effects of electro-acupuncture on Tennis Elbow

Su X et al. Effects of electroa-cupuncture of different frequencies for treatment of patients with refractory tennis elbow syndrome.
Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2010; 30: 43-5.

A randomised controlled trial that assessed the different effects of electro-acupuncture of different frequencies in 85 patients with refractory tennis elbow syndrome. The patients were allocated to continuous wave or rarefaction wave electro-acupuncture at the same acupoints. A Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the tenderness score. The effective rate was 82. 9% in continuous wave group and 84. 1% in rarefaction wave group, with no significant difference between the two groups. The healing rate was better in rarefaction wave group (56. 8% vs. 31.7% in the continuous wave group; p<0.05). The VAS scores were significantly reduced after electro-acupuncture treatment in both groups (both p<0.001). The researchers concluded that rarefaction wave electro-acupuncture is better than continuous wave electro-acupuncture for refractory tennis elbow syndrome.