Bill Vicenzino, Dugal Smith, Joshua Cleland and Leanne Bisset
The aim of this analysis was to develop a preliminary clinical prediction rule (CPR) for identifying patients with lateral epicondylalgia likely to respond to mobilisation with movement and exercise. Analyses resulted in a CPR that included: age, as well as pain free grip strength on the affected and unaffected side . Probability of improvement rose from 79 to 100% if all three were positive. The CPR did not predict outcome for wait and see indicating it was more accurate for PT.
This post hoc analysis has created a Level IV CPR that with further validation will help practitioners identify responders. Future studies are required to validate the rule.
Manual Therapy, 1 October 2008, online article ahead of print