The prevalence and causation of tennis elbow (lateral humeral epicondylitis) in a population of workers in an engineering industry

Abstract

Lateral humeral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) is often considered to be work related but the incidence and prevalence among industrial workers has not previously been studied In this study the prevalence of this condition and its relationship to some work factors was investigated in 540 workers in a modern engineering industry The prevalence was 7-4% (40/540). Work was found to be the probable cause in 35%, tennis in 8% and other leisure activities in 27% of the patients. No cause was found in the remaining 30%. There was no correlation with sex, while a significant correlation was found with age, the incidence increasing with advancing age On the basis of job classification according to their elbow stress, it was found that these workers with work-related epicondylitis had higher elbow stress jobs compared to other sufferers and to the workforce as a whole.