Lateral Epicondylitis: Treatment Preferences from the Potential Patient Perspective

Knowing the questions and concerns that patients have regarding treatment options for lateral epicondylitis may allow for shared-decision making and potentially superior patient outcomes and satisfaction. In the present study, we aimed to further delineate patient preferences with treatment of lateral epicondylitis.

An online, survey-based, descriptive study was conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Survey participants were presented with a clinical scenario regarding lateral epicondylitis and asked four questions regarding treatment preferences for nonoperative treatment, whether they would consider platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, and whether they would consider surgical intervention for recalcitrant symptoms. A Likert scale was used for responses. McNemar chi-square test was used for paired nominal data for statistical analysis.

A total of 238 survey responses were included. A majority (63%) of respondents elected to proceed with formal physical therapy. When given additional information regarding corticosteroid injections, 50.8% of respondents reported preferring physical therapy. There were no differences between groups for questions 1 and 2 (P = 0.90). Of the respondents, 75.2% were "likely" or "extremely likely" to consider PRP injection. When asked about surgical intervention, 74.8% of respondents were "likely" or "extremely likely" to proceed with continued symptoms.

It is important to include patient preferences in treatment discussions of lateral epicondylitis. Survey respondents preferred formal physical therapy for initial treatment. A surprising majority of respondents were likely to consider a PRP injection. With prolonged symptoms, respondents were interested in discussions of surgical intervention and thus, it should continue to be offered to patients with recalcitrant symptoms.