Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a commonly encountered musculoskeletal complaint, which is characterized by lateral elbow pain often associated with gripping task. For management of this problem, elbow tape and Cyriax physiotherapy have been incorporated into the treatment. OBJECTIVE: To study the comparative effectiveness of Cyriax physiotherapy and taping in cases of tennis elbow in terms of pain, grip strength and functional activities. METHODS: 40 subjects with tennis elbow over the duration of 3 months, between the age 20 to 50 years were taken up for the study. Baseline pain, grip strength and functional evaluation were recorded pre treatment (1st day) and post treatment (7th day). Hand dynamometer was used to measure the grip strength, VAS to assess pain and patient rated forearm evaluation questionnaire for lateral epicondylitis was used for functional evaluation. Comparison of the pre and post values was done following the treatment. RESULTS: Within group analysis showed that there was statistically significant improvement in both the groups in the pain, grip strength and functional performance. (p < 0.0001) whereas between group analysis revealed that group A showed significant improvement compared to group B in terms of pain and functional performance. CONCLUSION: This clinical trial provided evidence to support the use of cyriax physiotherapy and taping techniques in relieving pain, improving grip strength and improve functional performance in subjects with tennis elbow. Results supported that Cyriax physiotherapy was more effective than taping technique in reducing pain and functional performance.

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