Sources checked October 18, 2026. This guide explains terminology and reports selected study measurements. It does not provide a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan.
Where does tennis elbow hurt?
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons describes pain or burning at the outer elbow, reduced grip strength and sometimes nighttime pain.[1] Gripping or forearm activity can bring out symptoms.[1]
The name does not restrict the condition to tennis players.[1] Repeated wrist and forearm activity at work or during recreation also appears in the AAOS description.[1]
Is tennis elbow the same as golfer's elbow?
The location differs: tennis elbow concerns the outer, lateral attachment; golfer's elbow, or medial epicondylitis, concerns tendons attaching on the inner side.[1][3] These are different anatomical labels, not interchangeable names for all elbow pain.[1][3]
How is tennis elbow diagnosed?
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine describes diagnosis through a clinician's history and physical examination.[2] Its patient guide, reviewed in November 2025, notes that a clinician may order X-rays to check the elbow's bone structures, although X-rays are not always required.[2]
Useful details to bring to that discussion include where the pain occurs, when it began, the activities involved, and previous evaluations. Ask the clinician what supports the diagnosis and what any proposed imaging is intended to clarify. This is an appointment checklist, not a self-diagnosis test.
What treatments are discussed for tennis elbow?
AAOS describes activity changes, physical therapy, braces, medicines, injections, shockwave procedures and surgery among the approaches discussed in care.[1] Listing an approach is different from recommending it for a particular person.[1]
For terminology, see our PRP treatment guide and Shockwave Therapy guide. The original-study summaries below identify the actual comparison groups rather than rank treatments.
What have tennis-elbow trials measured?
These are selected original trials, not a systematic review. Read each result with its population, comparator and follow-up. They answer different research questions; their numbers are not a combined estimate or a prediction for an individual.
PRP, autologous blood and saline: Linnanmäki, 2020
Linnanmäki and colleagues randomized 119 adults with symptoms lasting more than three months: 40 to PRP, 40 to autologous blood and 39 to saline.[4] At 52 weeks, the reported difference in pain improvement for PRP versus saline was -0.2 cm on a 0-to-10-cm visual analog scale, with a 95% confidence interval from -1.5 to 1.1 cm.[4] The blood-versus-saline difference was 0.5 cm, with an interval from -0.7 to 1.7 cm.[4]
Follow-up availability at 52 weeks was 31, 38 and 32 participants, respectively, and endpoint missingness differed.[4] The original table distinguishes final pain scores from improvement; some Results prose confuses those labels.[4] The figures above are the reported improvement contrasts, not final scores or proof of equivalence.[4]
Corticosteroid, placebo and physiotherapy: Coombes, 2013
Coombes and colleagues randomized 165 adults with symptoms longer than six weeks in a factorial trial of corticosteroid or placebo injection, with or without physiotherapy.[6] At one year, the author manuscript reports complete recovery or much improvement in 68 of 82 corticosteroid-assigned participants and 78 of 81 placebo-assigned participants, pooling across physiotherapy allocation.[6] The relative risk was 0.86, with a 99% confidence interval of 0.75 to 0.99.[6]
The physiotherapy comparison reported 73 of 80 versus 73 of 83 with recovery or much improvement; relative risk 1.04, 99% confidence interval 0.90 to 1.19.[6] Participants and therapists were not blinded to physiotherapy.[6] These counts come from the publicly accessible author manuscript, not an independently reanalyzed dataset.[6] They are observed group outcomes, not personal probabilities.[6]
Radial shockwave and sham: Murat, 2024
Murat and colleagues randomized 42 adults with symptoms for at least three months, 21 per group, to radial shockwave or sham.[7] Both groups also received splinting, exercise and ice.[7] At the assessment labeled one month after treatment in the tables, median pain scores were 3 versus 6 on a 0-to-10 scale; the between-group P value was below .001.[7] Baseline medians were 7 in both groups.[7]
This small single-center study had short follow-up.[7] Its Methods and table timing conflict with a Results sentence naming other time points; the table labels are used here.[7] These are endpoint medians, not median individual improvements.[7] The paper supplies no between-group confidence interval for this comparison.[7] It does not establish a long-term result or compare shockwave with no care.[7]
How can I compare PRP clinic listings?
In Regenerated.com's September 2026 export of 9,042 US clinic records, 2,082 listed PRP across 48 states plus Washington, DC. Source: the September 2026 clinic export, counted by recorded treatment tag. This is our directory's coverage, not a US market-size estimate or a count of clinics confirmed to treat tennis elbow.
Browse PRP clinics, or compare PRP clinics in California and PRP clinics in Texas. Use the listings to identify providers to contact. Confirm that the specific location evaluates elbow problems, who performs the assessment, and what service is actually being offered. A listing is not an endorsement.
The directory count does not establish a treatment outcome. It also does not show whether a clinic uses the same preparation, procedure or follow-up as any of the trials above.
What should I ask a provider before deciding?
Ask for the clinician's name and professional role, the proposed diagnosis, and the reason for any test. If an injection is discussed, ask for the exact substance or preparation and where it would be administered. Ask which published study supports the explanation and whether its participants and comparison group match the situation being discussed.
For a written quote, ask whether the consultation, imaging, procedure and follow-up are separate charges. Confirm the location, cancellation terms and any insurance handling directly with the provider. This page makes no price, coverage or availability commitment.
Ask which outcome will be tracked and when it will be assessed. Keep personal treatment choices, exercise instructions and medication decisions with the treating clinician; the research summaries here do not prescribe a protocol.