Golfer’s Elbow Ruining Your Game? Physio Can Help!

Pain and discomfort from golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis) can have a serious impact on your sports performance and not just in golf. Golfer’s elbow can affect anyone who does a lot of repetitive arm, wrist, and finger movements like gripping, lifting, and twisting.

If you play tennis, lift weights, or you often go rock climbing, you could get golfer’s elbow. Professionals and tradespeople such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and construction workers are also at risk.

What is Golfer’s Elbow and What Causes It?

Golfer’s elbow is an injury to the tendons on the inside of the elbow, usually caused by overuse or overloading. These tendons attach forearm muscles (which control movements in your wrist and fingers) to the medial epicondyle, a bony protrusion on the inside of your elbow.

These tendons can get strained when:

• You do a lot of repetitive wrist and arm movements like typing on a computer or using hand tools for hours every day.
• You suddenly increase the intensity or volume of arm and hand movements. For example, if you start a new construction job, you start training for a sport every day without adequate recovery, or you lift too many reps at the gym.
• You put too much load on the forearm muscles, which in turn strains the tendons. This can happen when you increase gym weights before you’re ready.
• You do a sport or an activity with poor form or technique.

Golfer’s elbow often starts out as mild pain or soreness that you feel after a game or when you get home from work. Sometimes, the pain doesn’t set in until the next morning.

Over time, if you don’t take steps to address the injury, golfer’s elbow can progress to persistent pain that gets worse whenever you do an activity involving your hands. Some players have reported feeling excruciating pain if they do something as simple as squeezing a ball.

As the tendons tear and get inflamed, you may also experience muscle weakness, making it difficult to swing a racket, grip a tool, or hit a golf swing.

Note: If the pain is on the outside of the elbow, that’s tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), and it is also caused by tendon damage from overuse and overloading.

Medial Epicondylitis Treatment

In almost all cases, physio is the best treatment for golfer’s elbow. Many people will try icing or massage to manage pain and speed up healing. But these are short-term solutions and, on their own, they are not enough for full recovery; we need to load the tendons to heal.

Corticosteroid injections can help with pain and inflammation, but the relief is temporary, and there’s a risk that they can slow down healing.

You also don’t want to become too inactive. Initially, your doctor may recommend completely abstaining from activities that could aggravate the injury for a few days or weeks.

But staying inactive for months doesn’t help with medial epicondylitis and will likely prolong it or cause it to flare up again when you resume playing or working. Complete rest is contraindicated and can lead to muscle atrophy.

Physio for golf elbow focuses on the root problem, which is tissue damage in the tendons. This ensures the injury heals faster, fully, and with less risk of recurrence. Here’s how physio helps:

• Progressive loading through exercises and movements strengthens the tendons, making them more resilient.
• Therapies like physiotherapy and osteopathy increase blood flow and encourage tissue regeneration, which speeds up healing and reduces pain.
• Physio restores the movement, range, and function of the elbow, so you can get back up to your full performance without any lingering pain. An Ace Certified Practitioner can also help correct any imbalances or poor form that may have contributed to the injury.

Best Exercises for Golfer’s Elbow

To treat golfer’s elbow at home, here are three easy exercises you can try.

• Hold a ball, a hand gripper, or a balled-up towel in your hand. Slowly squeeze and hold for 30 seconds, then release. Do 10-15 reps.
• Place your forearm, palm facing up, on a flat surface like the arm of a chair or a workout bench. Let your wrist and hand hang over the edge. Hold a weight in your hand (a small dumbbell or an exercise strap works great) and slowly bend your wrist upwards then back down. Repeat 10 times and do 3 sets.
• Stay in the same position as above, but now your palm should be facing to the side. Hold a weight in your hand (can be a broomstick, a bottle, or the end of a light dumbbell) and slowly rotate it from side to side, making sure your wrist goes through the full range of motion. Do 3 sets with 10 reps each.

Speed Up Golfer’s Elbow Recovery at Ace Sports Clinic Toronto

If you have golfer’s elbow that’s ruining your game or interfering with your work, our certified specialists at Ace can help you. We have a team of experts who collaborate to get to the bottom of the injury, ensuring we are not just treating the symptoms. You’ll get a tailored care plan that speeds up recovery and helps you get back to your game pain-free.

Give us a call at 1-833-266-5223 to talk to a physio about a personalized treatment plan for golfer’s elbow.

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only. Consult with a qualified professional for personalised guidance based on your specific needs and circumstances.