A new study is trialling two promising therapies for the condition: physiotherapy treatment and a program of prolotherapy injections.
A third treatment will compare a combination of these two therapies. The researchers hope to determine which is the more effective of these quite different treatments for tennis elbow.
"This research aims to test the effectiveness of two treatments that address the underlying causes of tennis elbow, rather than just covering up the symptoms," Chief Investigator Associate Professor Michael Yelland said.
"Tennis elbow is traditionally a difficult condition to cure, so we want to see if these treatments can give lasting results and whether combining them is better than using them on their own.
"It may be that a combination of the two therapies will be better than each one alone but no one has yet done the research to see if this is so."
Adults aged 18 to 70 who have had pain on the outside of their elbow for at least 6 weeks are invited to participate in the trial which is currently seeking participants from the Gold Coast region.
One in ten people will suffer
"One in ten people will get this kind of tendon injury during their lifetime, so this research has the potential to help a lot of people who could develop tennis elbow over time,” Professor Yelland said.