Abstract

Pain from the common tendinous origin of the forearm extensor muscles on the lateral elbow, traditionally known as tennis elbow is a common location of tendon pain. The incidence rate is estimated per year with peak prevalence between 40 and above age. Most of the incidents heal within three months but about one third has a more protracted course and an estimated all cases still have symptoms after one year. The causal factor is primarily repetitive strain, and heavy manual labour increases the risk of being affected. Inflammation has been considered the causal factor with no distinction being made between the acute and the chronic stages of tennis elbow. Thus, lateral epicondylitis has been used as a synonym for tennis elbow. It has now become clear that this term should be reserved for the acute stage of tennis elbow. A preferable term for the chronic stage is lateral epicondylosis.