Lateral Epicondylosis Research Paper

Introduction
Lateral epicondylosis (LE) is a musculoskeletal condition that causes elbow dysfunction to the soft tissue surrounding the lateral epicondyle of the humerus. The aetiology of this condition is still unclear, however it is assumed to occur from over-stretching or excessive use of extensor muscles.1 Diagnosis is often based on the patients history and physical signs such as, pain radiating over the outer compartment and down the posterior arm where the extensor muscles (extensor carpi radialis brevis) run, muscle weakness, and decreased wrist extension.2 Some treatment methods include: R.I.C.E., massage, steroidal injections, concentric and eccentric strengthening exercises, stretching, and surgery.1 However, due to the uncertainty of the aetiology of this condition there is no clear efficacious treatment method for LE.3

Analysis
Martinez-Silvestrini et al. 4 used a randomised controlled trial to investigate whether stretching exercises
Martinez-Silvestrini et al.4 showed improvement in eccentric, concentric and stretching, but none of them were more efficacious than the other. This may have been because the control group was not a placebo but a ‘psuedo-control group’5 or because of the short duration of the study. Wen et al.6 displayed minimal evidence to support their hypothesis that eccentric exercises would show greater improvement in LE, and had too many limitations.

Based on the findings from these articles I would not include eccentric strengthening in my treatment regime for LE because, there is not enough statistically or clinically significant evidence to support this form of treatment over stretching and other modalities. Ultimately I would take into consideration the individuals response to certain treatments and work out a management strategy that was tailored specifically for