Effect of Eccentric Exercise in Tennis Elbow - An Interventional Study

Tennis elbow is an overuse injury involving the extensor muscles that originate from the lateral epicondyler region of the humerus mainly at their musculotendinosus junction. . It is very common in individuals whose jobs necessitate frequent rotary motion of the forearm (e. g. , tennis players and carpenters). Tennis elbow is a syndrome characterized by an insidious onset of elbow pain brought on by wrist extension with pronation or supination and aggravated by gripping. The commonly affected arm is the dominant arm. Men and women are equally affected. This is an interventional study. The aim of the study was To study the effect of Eccentric exercise for Wrist extensors in subjects with tennis elbow.28 patients with tennis elbow were taken for the study that fulfills the criteria. They were divided into 2 groups. Group A (Interventional Group) & Group B (Control Group). Group A was treated with Eccentric exercise and Conventional Physiotherapy and Group B was treated with Conventional Physiotherapy only. Subjects of both groups were treated for 8 weeks, 1 session / day, 6 days/ week. An assessment for outcome measures (Pain, Maximal Isometric Grip Strength & Function) was done prior to starting of the treatment and after 8 weeks of treatment. The analysis was done by using software SPSS Version 16. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for within Group Analysis and Mann Whitney U test was used for between Group Analyses. Group A showed significant improvement in Pain (pless than0.0001), Maximal Isometric Grip Strength (pless than0.0001) and Function (pless than0.0001) than Group B. Thus, it can be concluded that Eccentric exercise is more effective in reducing Pain, improving grip Strength and Function in patients with tennis elbow.