Mike Melton - Jul 20th, 2011
Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is a painful injury to the muscles and ligaments of the outer side of the elbow. Though it’s coined "tennis" elbow due to the high incidence of tennis elbow in tennis players, it can occur due to any over or improper use of the elbow. Typically, the pain slowly increases at the outer area of the elbow. It is usually made worse by activities such as shaking hands or stabilizing the wrist area to perform a function such as brushing your teeth.
Augmented soft tissue mobilization (ASTM) is one type of treatment for lateral epicondylitis. A recent study examined whether ASTM was effective and how it compared to patient education. There were 27 subjects in the randomized clinical study. The experimental group consisted of 15 patients with tennis elbow who received ASTM 2 times a week for 5 weeks. The control group had 12 subjects who were educated on the process of tennis elbow, computer ergonomics and stretching exercises.
At the end of the study, both groups had improvement in grip strength and lessened pain as well as self-assessed improvement of their condition. The study shows that both ASTM and patient education are effective in treating tennis elbow. A doctor of chiropractic can provide both ASTM and patient education for a number of musculoskeletal conditions.
Blanchette MA, Normand MC. Augmented soft tissue mobilization vs. natural history in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis: a pilot study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2011;34(2):123-30.
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