COMPARISON OF EFFECTS OF CYRIAX PHYSIOTHERAPY, A SUPERVISED EXERCISE PROGRAMME AND POLARIZED POLYCHROMATIC NON-COHERENT LIGHT (BIOPTRON LIGHT) FOR THE TREATMENT OF LATERAL EPICONDYLITIS

Background: There are many possible therapeutic interventions for lateral epicondylopathy (tennis elbow), including physiotherapy, exercise rehabilitation and, recently, polarised polychromatic non-coherent (Bioptron) light.

Research question/s: What is the effectiveness of Cyriax physiotherapy, a supervised exercise and polarised polychromatic non-coherent light (Bioptron light) in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis?

Methodology:Subjects: 75 patients with clinically diagnosed lateral “epicondylitis”.

Experimental procedure: Subjects were sequentially allocated to 3 treatment (3/week) groups for 4 weeks: Cyriax physiotherapy (CP = 25), supervised exercise (EX = 25) and polarised polychromatic non-coherent light (Bioptron light) (BIOP = 25). Pain, function and grip strength were assessed before and after 4, 8, 16 and 28 weeks.

Measures of outcome: Pain (visual analogue scale; VAS), function (VAS), pain-free grip strength.

Main finding/s::

Improvement of function was also greatest in the EX group compared with the other groups at any of the follow-up time points (p<0.05).

Conclusion/s: Compared with Cyriax physiotherapy or polarised polychromatic non-coherent light (Bioptron light), a supervised exercise programme was superior in pain reduction and improved function in the management of patients with lateral epicondylitis.