Favorable Responsiveness of the Hand10 Questionnaire to Assess Treatment Outcomes for Lateral Epicondylitis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to compare the responsiveness of the Hand10 questionnaire and the Pain visual analogue scale (VAS) for the assessment of lateral epicondylitis.

METHODS: The standardized response mean and effect size were used as indicators of responsiveness, measured at baseline and after 6 months of treatment. Among the 54 patients enrolled, 28 were treated using a forearm band, compress and stretching, with the other 26 patients treated using compress and stretching.

RESULTS: The standardized response mean and the effect size were 1.18 and 1.38, respectively, of the Hand10 and 1.39 and 1.75, respectively, for the Pain VAS.

CONCLUSIONS: The responsiveness of both tests was considered to be large, based on Cohen's classification of effect size, supporting the use of the Hand10 questionnaire to assess treatment outcomes for lateral epicondylitis.