Abstract
Medial and lateral epicondylitis are frequent painful syndromes of the elbow due to repetitive functional stress of muscle groups inserted by a common tendon at the medial and lateral epicondyle, respectively.
The medial epicondylitis involves the flexor carpi radialis or pronator teres or both close to their origin, while the lateral epicondylitis, much more common than medial epicondylitis, is generally characterized by lesions of the tendon of the extensor carpi radialis brevis.
They were considered inflammatory conditions, but the epicondylitis are characterized, however, by tendon alterations resulting from an incomplete reparative response.
In chronic cases, microtears are represented and can evolve to complete rupture of the tendon.
Both conditions can be treated without surgery in most patients.
Several surgical treatments have been proposed in the treatment of epicondylitis; however, no one appears to be superior to others, and there isn’t, therefore, a universally accepted consensus (Leach and Miller, Clin Sports Med 6:259–273, 1987).
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Pederzini, L.A., Di Palma, F. (2017). Medial and Lateral Epicondylitis. In: Canata, G., d'Hooghe, P., Hunt, K. (eds) Muscle and Tendon Injuries. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-54184-5_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-54184-5_21
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