Effectiveness of Kinesiotape Versus Counterforce Brace as an Adjunct to Occupational Therapy in Lateral Epicondylitis

The purpose was to investigate and compare effectiveness of Kinesiotaping and counterforce brace as an adjunct to Occupational Therapy in lateral epicondylitis.

It is a prospective, comparative and interventional randomized study.

The study was conducted on 26 patients with a total of 14 males and 12 females diagnosed as a case of Lateral epicondylitis as per the inclusion criteria. In Group A, (kinesiotaping): 12 subjects, 7 males and 5 females. In Group B (counterforce brace): 14 subjects, 7 males and 7 females. Jamar dynamometer. Visual Analog Scale were used to quantify grip strength, pain. Interventional protocol was of 6 weeks. Re-evaluation was done on the 1^st day, end of 2^nd week, end of 4^th week and finally end of 6^th week. Mann Whitney U test was used for comparison of mean between two groups and repeated measures ANOVA test was used for comparison within group. The results showed significant pain reduction and improvement in grip strength but no statistically significant difference seen in between two groups (p>0.05). The study concludes that Kinesiotape as well as Counterforce brace is equally effective in respect to pain, grip strength and decreasing disability in patients with lateral epicondylitis.