Local corticosteroid injection in sport: review of literature and guidelines for treatment

The risks and benefits of local injection therapy of overuse sports injuries with cortisteroids are reviewed here. Injection of corticosteroid inside the tendon has a deleterious effect on the tendon tissue and should be unanimously condemned. No reliable proof exists of the deleterious effects of peritendinous injections. Too many conclusions in the literature are based on poor scientific evidence and it is just the reiteration of a dogma if all steroid injections are abandoned. The corticosteroids represent an adjuvant treatment in the overall management of sports injuries: basic treatment is ‘active’ rest and graduated rehabilitation within the limits of pain. With proper indications there are only few and trivial complications that may occur with corticosteroid injections. Guidelines for proper local injection therapy with corticosteroids are given.