Effects of Eccentric Exercises on Pain, Function, Wrist Extensor and Hand Grip Strength in Patients with Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis

Background: Lateral Epicondylitis (LE) is a painful condition that has a significant impact on activities of daily living. Eccentric training is an effective intervention for improving outcomes in patients with LE.Purpose: To evaluate the effects of eccentric exercises on pain, function, wrist extensor and grip strength in patients with LE and evaluating the correlation between these variables post treatment.Methods: 23 patients of both genders with LE with age from 16 to 30 years received eccentric exercises. pain was evaluated using the VAS, function was assessed with the Arabic DASH questionnaire, wrist extensor strength was measured using a Hand-Held Dynamometer (HHD), and grip strength was assessed with the Jamar Grip Dynamometer.Results: revealed significant improvement in VAS, DASH, wrist extensor strength and grip strength in patients with LE after receiving eccentric exercises (p < 0.001). Pearson correlation revealed a strong positive correlation between pain intensity and DASH scores (r = 0.497; p = 0.016) a very strong positive correlation was observed between wrist extensor strength and grip strength (r = 0.768; p < 0.001). On the other hand, no significant correlation was observed between VAS and wrist extensor strength, VAS and grip strength, DASH and wrist extensor strength or DASH and grip strength.Conclusions: The results of this study confirmed the effective role of eccentric exercises in improving pain, function, wrist extensor and grip strength in patients with LE. Additionally, pain was found to have a significant impact on functional improvements.a strong positive correlation was found between wrist extensor strength and grip strength.