Treatment of lateral epicondylitis: where is the evidence?

Lateral epicondylitis is the most commonly diagnosed elbow condition and affects about 1-3% of the population at large. It produces a heavy burden of workdays lost and residual impairments. Although many treatment modalities are used, few of them rest on scientific evidence and none has been proven more effective than the others. This paucity of evidence on treatments for lateral epicondylitis may stem from several sources, including the possible self-limiting nature of the condition, the lack of pathophysiological data, the methodological shortcomings of available studies, and the existence of numerous factors influencing the outcome.