Introduction: Lateral and medial epicondylitis of elbow are common causes of pain and reduced ability. They have good response on conservative treatment. Some authors suggest eccentric exercise as appropriate form of conservative treatment. Purpose: Purpose of this thesis was to find out about effectiveness of eccentric exercise for lateral and medial epicondylitis of elbow. Methods: Thesis is based on descriptive method. Different databases were used in the literature search. Selection and overview of the literature was performed considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thesis is written in a form of sistematic review. Quality of articles was evaluated with the methodology of SIGN association. Results: Data from 6 articles was analyzed. Five research were made on lateral and one on medial epicondylitis of elbow. There were 370 pacients involved in the studies (186 men and 184 women). In all eccentric exercise programs the exercises were performed with eccentric muscle contraction. In all of the studies the improvement in function, muscle performance and decrease in pain was important in eccentric group. Discussion and conclusion: Results indicate the benefit of inclusion of the eccentric exercise in physiotherapy of patients suffering from lateral epicondylitis of elbow. Exercise is also widely accessible and inexpensive. More research is needed in medial epicondylitis of elbow.
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