Surgery for lateral elbow pain.

This review is one in a series of reviews of interventions for lateral elbow pain. Lateral elbow pain, or tennis elbow, is a common condition causing pain in the lateral elbow and forearm and lack of strength and function of the elbow and wrist. Surgery is sometimes recommended in treating chronic cases of lateral elbow pain where other less invasive interventions have failed. Various operations have been described based upon the surgeon's concept of the pathological entity. The most described surgical procedures involve release of the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) from the lateral epicondyle region based upon the premise that there is pathology in the attachment of ECRB to the lateral epicondyle. No systematic review has previously been published assessing the effect of surgical interventions for lateral elbow pain.