This study investigated adverse tension in the neural system in 20 subjects suffering from unilateral symptoms of tennis elbow. A neural tissue tension test developed by Butler (1987 and 1991) was employed. Results indicated that the neural tissue was significantly less extensible in the arm with tennis elbow. Glenohumeral abduction range was on average 12 degrees less in the symptomatic arm when the test was performed with wrist and finger flexion and nine degrees less when the test incorporated wrist and finger extension. The test using wrist and finger flexion, which is considered to bias tension towards the radial nerve, reproduced the subjects' tennis elbow symptoms in 55 per cent of cases. These results suggest that adverse tension in neural structures may contribute to the pain.

One of the modifications of the upper limb neural tissue tension test (Butler 1987) sequences the movements of scapula depression, elbow extension, glenohumeral internal rotation, forearm pronation, wrist and finger flexion or extension and glenohumeral abduction. This test is used in the clinical situation but no normative data have been established. Fifty normal subjects were tested for the normal sensory responses and for the range of glenohumeral abduction in both a wrist and finger flexion and extension position. For both tests, approximately 40 degrees of glenohumeral abduction was available in the final positions. Gender and side tested did not influence results. The test using wrist and finger flexion mainly produced a strong painful stretch over the radial aspect of the proximal forearm and elbow. In contrast no single area was predominant for the test using wrist and finger extension. Knowledge of these normal responses is necessary for clinical decision making of abnormality.

The year 1988 marked the 50th anniversary of the commencement of physiotherapy education at the University of Queensland. A survey was conducted to record the work profiles and histories of Queensland graduates. Surveys were sent to 1,689 of the 1,897 graduates with a good response rate of 62.5 per cent. In 1987, 80 per cent of respondents were practising as physiotherapists, being reasonably evenly distributed between hospital practice, private practice and other more community based centres. With the exception of recent decade graduates, half of these predominantly female physiotherapists worked in a part-time capacity. The results of this survey do not reveal major manpower wastage. Although temporary absences from the profession for family reasons were common, only 15.1 per cent of all respondents have permanently withdrawn from the profession.