A Practical Guide to Injection Therapy in Hand Tendinopathies: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Hand tendinopathies represent a pathological condition associated with significant disability. However, due to this high heterogeneity of the treatments and their efficacy, there is still a lack of consensus on the infiltrative therapy of the hand. This systematic review aimed to investigate the efficacy of injection techniques in the treatment of pain related to the main hand tendinopathies. We searched online medical databases (PubMed, Pedro, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and WoS). Only RCTs published in the last 10 years (up to 5 August 2024), written in English, and related to infiltrative treatment in wrist and hand tendinopathies were evaluated. The risk of bias in RCTs was assessed with Version 2 of the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2). Out of 641 articles identified, 23 were included in the final synthesis: 14 RCTs on trigger finger, and 9 RCTs on de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. The present systematic review showed that infiltrative therapy of trigger finger and de Quervain’s tenosynovitis constitutes a fundamental element in the treatment of these pathological conditions, in terms of pain reduction and improvement in the functionality of the hand.