Acupuncture for Lateral Epicondylitis

Abstract

Lateral epicondylitis (LE), known as tennis elbow, is one of the most common diseases of elbow (1). Its cardinal symptom is tenderness and pain while using the extensor muscles of wrist repetitively. Men and women seem to be equally predisposed to this disease, and the age of onset is usually between 35 and 55 years (2). The incidence is estimated between 1% and 3% per year in the adult general population. It occurs because of overuse injury. But a sudden extreme effort or activity such as trauma can also cause damage to the epicondylar area (3). The classical description is pain at the lateral aspect of the elbow that often radiates down the forearm. It leads to the failure of common extensor tendon, specifically the extensor carpi radialis brevis portion. The diagnosis of LE includes palpation of the lateral epicondyle, resisted wrist extension, resisted wrist and middle finger extension, and passive wrist flexion (4,5).