Prolotherapy for the Treatment of Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00674622. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Lateral epicondylitis (LE), or tennis elbow, is a common and often disabling condition affecting young and middle-aged adults-most commonly manual workers and recreational athletes. It results in significant pain and disability, limiting work productivity and an individual's ability to participate in and enjoy recreational activities. Like many other chronic musculoskeletal conditions LE often shows an incomplete response to acute treatments, leading to chronic pain and disability. Prolotherapy (PrT) involves the injection of an irritant or proliferant solution into tendons, ligaments, and joints to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain. We will be conducting a 3-group randomized, blinded trial to determine the safety and efficacy of PrT injections in the treatment of chronic LE. Additionally, we will seek to determine to what extent any beneficial effect of PrT is derived from deep needle placement vs. a specific effect of the injectate. The specific aims for this study are: 1) to determine if PrT is a safe, well-tolerated, and effective treatment for individuals with chronic LE; and 2) to determine whether the deep needle placement alone is responsible for the therapeutic effect, independent of injectate. In order to accomplish these aims, we will measure indicators of pain and disability using self-rating scales, questionnaires and physical measures. Subjects will be stratified prior to randomization on two factors: 1) unilateral vs. bilateral LE; and 2) treatment with steroids within the prior 6 months. If effective, subjects receiving PrT will show greater reduction of pain and functional impairment compared with the other two groups. This research will guide future studies on prolotherapy by determining what may be the best control condition. Additionally, further studies may explore the mechanism responsible for any beneficial effect.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00674622
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2, Phase 3
- Enrollment
- 67 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Aug 31, 2007
- Primary completion
- Sep 30, 2010
- Completion
- Sep 30, 2011
- Last update posted
- May 15, 2016
2007 – 2011
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center for Integrative Medicine at UPMC Shadyside | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 15232 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00674622, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted May 15, 2016 · Synced Sep 6, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00674622 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.