The Efficacy of Local Injection of Methylprednisolone and Lidocaine with and Without Splint, in Treating Patients with De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

Suffering from de Quervain's tenosynovitis due to repetitive and routine activities leads to considerable referrals to orthopedic clinics and increasing health care costs and wasting of patient's time. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of local injection of methylprednisolone with and without splint for treatment of patients suffering from de Quervain's tenosynovitis. In a clinical trial study, 72 patients with de Quervain's tenosynovitis were selected in 2010 and were randomly divided into two groups. Therapeutic intervention in the first group was injection of 40 mg methylprednisone and 1 ml lidocaine with splint, and in the second group it was injection 40 mg methylprednisone and 1ml lidocaine without splint. Both groups followed this treatment for three periods(21 day). The related data were collected by visual analogue scale. Then data was analyzed by SPSS (ver. 16) using Fisher exact test and t test. The findings of this study revealed that after the 3-week period of treatment the mean reduced pain intensity and improvement in the first group was significantly lower than the second group(p<0/05). Therefore, local injection of methylprednisone and lidocaine with splint is an effective method in the treatment of de Quervain's tenosynovitis.