Effective Massage and Acupuncture Therapy for Treatment of Tennis Elbow

Objective To observe the clinical effectiveness of massage and acupuncture combination in massage treatment of tennis elbow. Methods 86 patients diagnosed with complain commonly known as tennis elbow were randomly divided into two treatment groups. One group( n=40) received massage treatment only. Another(n=46) received combination treatment consists of massage and acupuncture therapy know as surround needling technique. The effects were observed over one course of treatment. Results The complete healing rate and effective relieve rate were 52.5% and 80.0% respectively with a relapse rate of 20.0% in the patients receiving massage therapy. The complete healing rate and effective relieve rate were 80.4% and 97.8% respectively with a relapse rate of 8.7% in the patients receiving combination massage and acupuncture therapy. The results demonstrated that the combination massage and acupuncture treatment were significantly better than massage alone treatment(P0.01). Conclusion In treatment of patients with tennis elbow, massage and acupuncture( surround needling technique ) combine therapy was more effective with less relapse than massage therapy alone.