Surgical aspects of tennis elbow tendinosis

Tennis elbow tendinosis represents a degenerative change in the forearm musculature resulting from chronic repetitive activity. Most cases of tennis elbow will respond favorably to an aggressive rehabilitation program. A small percentage of cases, however, may not respond adequately and may therefore benefit from surgical management. In 1979, Nirschl and Pettrone introduced a new technique for the surgical treatment of tennis elbow. The key to this technique, which has been applied to lateral, medial, and posterior tennis elbow, is identification and removal of pathologic angiofibroblastic tendinosis. Surgical management is followed by aggressive postoperative rehabilitation.