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Golfers Elbow
Golfers Elbow
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What is Golfer's Elbow?
Golfer's elbow is the common name for pain experienced to the inside of the elbow. It is similar to tennis elbow but differs by the location of pain. Tennis elbow is experienced over the outside of the elbow.
While it can certainly be
caused by golf, it is common any sport or
occupation that involves gripping or throwing eg weightlifting, cricket, hockey,
canoeing and baseball.
Where is Golfer's Elbow Pain Felt?
You'll feel pain over the inside bump of the elbow. This bump is
known as your medial epicondyle. The medical term for golfer's elbow is
"medial epicondyalgia" meaning a painful medial epicondyle.
Typically you'll suffer sharp localised pain over the bony bump. As the
condition deteriorates, the forearm muscles become tender and remain in
a spasm-like contraction.
What's the Cause of Golfer's Elbow?
Like most overuse injuries, it is most commonly caused by repeated
microtrauma. You may not have allowed the injury to ever fully heal and
ultimately it becomes increasingly painful.
Common Causes Include:
- Unaccustomed hand use. eg painting a fence, hammering, lots of typing.
- Excessive gripping or wringing activities
- Poor forearm muscle strength or tight muscles
- Poor technique (this may be a poor golf shot or hitting the ground)
How is Golfer's Elbow Diagnosed?
Your physiotherapist or doctor regularly diagnoses these injuries.
X-rays are often normal. An ultrasound scan may show tears within the
tendon.
Research has shown that the neck joints of C8 and T1 are common
referrers of pain down to the medial elbow. Always ask your physiotherapist or
doctor to examine your neck and thoracic spine for tenderness. Your symptoms may be cured
by only treating your spine!
Unfortunately, delay is not good. The longer you experience pain the
more likely it is that you'll develop compensatory problems in your
neck, shoulder or forearm.
Common Symptoms of Golfer's Elbow
- Gripping is painful
- Tenderness over the inside bump of your elbow.
What's the Best Treatment for Golfer's Elbow?
During the acute phase, rest is vital. "No Pain ... No Gain" is usually
wrong. Apply ice 2 or 3 times daily to reduce inflammation and pain.
Anti-inflammatory medication or gels can work very well.
Recent research on tennis elbow has shown that physiotherapy is better than cortisone
injections in the medium to long-term. In addition to hastening the
healing rate, your physio will ensure that the perfect musculoskeletal
environment is present to avoid any recurrence. While similar research on Golfer's elbow has not been undertaken, the research would tend to infer that both forms of epicondyalgia will respond similarly.
In acute situations, massage and electrotherapy modalities such as
ultrasound, laser and electrical stimulation (eg TENS machine ) may be
used to quicken your healing. They have been shown to have minimal
long-term effect, but can have short-term benefits such as pain relief
and muscle relaxation that can assist with your exercise compliance and
day to day life.
Common Golfer's Elbow Treatments
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Does a Tennis Elbow Brace help Golfer's Elbow?
A tennis elbow brace can be very effective from the moment you put it
on for both Golfer's elbow and tennis elbow. In these instances, the brace will dissipate the stressful gripping
forces away from your injured structures.
However, tennis elbow braces do not work in 100% of cases. In our
experience, we recommend that you seek physiotherapy assistance in
these cases. In stubborn cases, you have a very high likelihood of
referred symptoms from your spine or from joint position abnormalities within your elbow. Only a thorough examination of your
neck, shoulder, elbow and upper limb nerve structures will confirm your
diagnosis and direct which treatment options will assist you the
quickest.
FAQs about Golfer's Elbow
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PhysioWorks or Book Online
Golfer's Elbow Brace & Other Products
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