autologous blood injection-anybody have experience?

i've come down with a nasty case of medial epicondylitis that doesn't seem to be resolving despite taking months off, PT, ice, all the exercises, rehab etc. i won't do cortisone - it's just a bandaid solution but i've been reading about this relatively new treatment where some of my blood is taken from one arm and injected into the inflamed site. i know it sounds really new agey but a lot of MDs are doing it and the reports i've read people who have had tendinitis for years say it cleared it up. i'd love to hear from anyone with personal experience.

The latest, and very well done research shows the injection of autologous platelets to be no more effective than a "sham" injection of saline:

jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/conte…

Both groups received the standard treatment of eccentric exercise, and there was no difference between groups.

i certainly understand wanting to avoid cortisone, but from my own experience, if nothing else works, then it might be worth a try. i had itb syndrome for nearly a year and a half. tried everything to no avail. out of desperation, gave in to cortisone. immediately cleared up and no problems for two plus years. obviously, results vary...

onceahardman wrote:The latest, and very well done research shows the injection of autologous platelets to be no more effective than a "sham" injection of saline: jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/conte… Both groups received the standard treatment of eccentric exercise, and there was no difference between groups.

B-
If you've tried everything else, which it sounds like you have, and you've never tried a cortisone injection it may be worth it.
I've worked on a lot of people who've had similar experiences to what Matt is saying. One shot is sometimes enough to break the chronic irritation and let your body heal up the area, and/or get you pain free enough to do some physical conditioning exercises at an intensity that will take care of the medial elbow pain.

Like Matt said, results may vary but I would consider two years a pretty good band-aid. I don't know how long you've been climbing or how hard you're pushing your body right now but I can tell you that from personal experience... after having climbed for a little over 13yrs my elbows will still get quite achey if I'm doing a lot of intense finger strengthening during a training cycle.
Good luck w/ the elbows,
BA

brentapgar wrote: I don't know how long you've been climbing

i have a friend who did this, but it didn't help. its hard to say. if you are desperate, then maybe try it. who knows.

thanks for all the comments. i went ahead and tried the autologous blood - not the added platelets -just the blood and had a good result. my hand surgeon who did the injection said he's had good results, particularly with the lateral tendinitis so for those of you with 'tennis elbow' it may be worth a try. my insurance even covered it.

Hey Beth...

I wanted to add a brief note to your OP.

When you (or anyone else, for that matter) says you did, "PT, all the exercises", etc., it sometimes makes me cringe a bit. Being in the field, I have seen many different treatments given by various PTs, for similar conditions.

I have seen both older experienced PTs and relatively new graduates do the "hot pack, ultrasound, e-stim, a bit of exercise (sometimes demonstrating a lack of biomechanical knowledge), and an ice pack." I once had a clinical instructor who saw a patient for SIX MONTHS, doing the above program. I took over the case, and got the guy better in two visits.

The point is, "PT" is not one thing. It is a wide variety of different treatments. If you continue to have difficulty with your elbows, consider finding a PT who specializes in manual therapy. Nobody can get everybody better, but I have had pretty good successes with stubborn cases of tendinitis, including my own elbows. All PTs are not the same, just like MDs, surgeons, or, for that matter, climbers.

I'm struggling w/ the same problem - could you please share specific names of docs, PT folks you'd recommend in Boulder?

Thanks!

--john

Well I had 3 or 4 cortisone shots with PT over 3 years, with the problem returning in about a year. I saw at least 4 different PT's and would recommend Sue Torrence at Boulder center for Sports Medicine. She was the first to really examine my elbow and how it worked and moved with the rest of my upper body. She did the same icing/massage type stuff as the others but also some specific shoulder/upper arm work to improve how I was loading the elbow. I haven't had the problem for several years now.

My policy for looking for a PT now, is if they ONLY look at the injury site, and not how it functions with the rest of the body, I will not be there for a second visit. I'm pretty much echoing what was said above about avoiding PT's who only do "hot pack, ultrasound, e-stim, a bit of exercise (sometimes demonstrating a lack of biomechanical knowledge), and an ice pack."

Well this could be a bit of a commitment but I know someone who struggled with this off and on for 10 + years and finally took gluten out of his diet and has had NO I MEAN 0 pain since. it might b worth a try.

Try Doctor Sweeney at Colorado Sports and Family Medicine in Arvada. He's good. (I am a bit biased as I will be joining his practice in 3 months).

I, my wife, and many folks I know have had good luck with a variety of therapists at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Jeff Flemming kept me out from under the knife when I was having impingement issues with my left shoulder a couple of years ago. Caveat: I was obsessive about doing the exercises and followed his instructions to the letter. You gotta do the work if you want to get better.