The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an arm exercise equipment developed to improve pain and function in patients with medial and lateral epicondylitis of the elbow joint, acting as an adjunctive treatment. Therefore, this study...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an arm exercise equipment developed to improve pain and function in patients with medial and lateral epicondylitis of the elbow joint, acting as an adjunctive treatment. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the effects of the arm exercise device on pain, grip strength, and elbow joint function in patients with epicondylitis.
This study was conducted in orthopedic hospitals in Seoul that specialize in treating patients with medial and lateral epicondylitis (golfer's elbow and tennis elbow). Among the hospitals selected through simple random sampling, patients who consented to the experiment via telephone and were outpatients of the Seoul Mirae Orthopedic Clinic were diagnosed with epicondylitis by a specialist at the hospital. Patients had been diagnosed with epicondylitis for at least 3 weeks and were between 18 and 60 years of age. The study was conducted from May 20 to June 21, 2025, targeting patients with epicondylitis. The subjects were assigned to the control group and the experimental group (12 patients each) using a lottery method, one of the simple random sampling methods.
To achieve the set objectives, the SPSS 25.0 program was used to analyze variables. All analyses were conducted at a significance level of 5%. The specific details are as follows. First, the mean and standard deviation were checked to determine the characteristics of the selected subjects, such as age, weight, and duration of illness. Second, a two-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to examine differences between the selected control and experimental groups, differences in time within groups, and interaction effects between groups and time periods. Third, in cases where there was an interaction effect between time periods and groups, an independent samples t-test was used as a post-hoc test to compare the effects between groups by time period. The results are as follows.
First, pain changes in patients with epicondylitis significantly decreased in both the control and experimental groups. Furthermore, the time-to-period effect was statistically significant, and there was an interaction effect between the time-to-period and group. A difference was observed between the control and experimental groups after eight sessions of the rehabilitation exercise program.
Second, grip strength in patients with epicondylitis increased in both the control and experimental groups. However, while there was no between-group effect, there was a significant difference in the time-to-period effect. There was also no interaction effect between the time-to-period and group.
Third, functional disability in patients with epicondylitis decreased in both the control and experimental groups. There were between-group effects, between-period effects, and an interaction effect between the time-to-period and group. Furthermore, the difference between the control and experimental groups after eight sessions of the rehabilitation exercise program remained significant.