Medial Epicondylitis (Golfer’s Elbow and Baseball Elbow)
Golfer’s elbow is also known as baseball elbow, suitcase elbow, or forehand tennis elbow. It causes pain on the inside side of your elbow. Golfer’s elbow is one of the several overuse injuries that affect the elbow[1]. Golfer’s elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is similar to its counterpart, tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis. Both these conditions cause elbow pain and are classified as overuse injuries. This means that they are caused by overuse of the muscles and tendons of the forearm, leading to inflammation and pain around the elbow joint. Though Golf is one common cause of the symptoms of Golfer’s elbow, but many other sport and work-related activities can cause the same problem.
In this post, our physiotherapists help you understand epicondylitis and recognise Golfers elbow symptoms, what is involved in golf elbow treatment and about elbow stretches for elbow pain relief.
Golfer’s Elbow | Causes | Symptoms | Treatment | Physiotherapy for Elbow
What is Epicondylitis?
Epicondylitis is a painful inflammation of tendons surrounding an epicondyle. It is usually classified in two types based on the location of pain in the elbow. These are:
- Medial epicondylitis (Golfer’s Elbow)
- Lateral epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)
The chief differences between Tennis elbow and Golfer’s Elbow include the location of the pain and the activity that leads to injury. On the most basic level, Golfer’s Elbow presents as pain on the inside of your elbow and Tennis Elbow presents as pain on the outside of your elbow. Neither is tied to a specific injury and both tend to gradually get worse as time goes on.
Related Reading: All about Tennis Elbow : Symptoms, Causes and Cure
What is Golfer’s Elbow?
Golfer’s elbow is a form of tendinitis. This type of elbow pain is caused by damage to the tendons that bend the wrist toward the palm. The medical term for Golfer’s elbow is medial epicondylitis. This term comes from the name of bony prominences (medial epicondyle) where the tendons insert, and where the inflammation causes the pain.
Symptoms of Golfer’s elbow
- The pain of golfer’s elbow is usually at the elbow joint on the inside of the arm.
- For most people with Golfer’s elbow, the pain only occurs when they use their forearm and wrist, particularly for clenching or twisting movements such as turning a door handle or opening a jar. However, for some people the pain is constant; it occurs at rest and can affect their sleep.
- There may be a shooting sensation down the forearm while gripping objects. You may find it difficult to hold items such as a knife or fork, a cup or a pen, or to straighten your arm full, as the pain may travel down your arm from your elbow towards your wrist.
- Some people also notice a stiffness in the affected arm.
Why is golfer’s elbow so painful?
People with Golfer’s elbow will likely experience pain on the inside edge of the elbow with gripping and flexing the wrist. This may be accompanied with weakness in gripping and lifting objects.
The severity of medial epicondylitis symptoms may vary depending upon its stage:
- Early stage: Pain in elbow after play or work.
- Middle stage: Elbow pain during play or work.
- Late stage: Pain in the elbow at rest and or at night.
Consequently, the painfulness of your elbow varies with the activity level.
What causes medial epicondylitis?
Medial epicondylitis is caused by the excessive force used to bend the wrist toward the palm. The pain and inflammation is usually a result of overusing the arm in a sport like golf or volleyball, where you repeatedly bend the wrist (wrist flexion) against resistance.
The mechanism of this injury can vary from a single violent action to, more commonly, repetitive stress injury where an action is performed repeatedly and pain gradually develops. Activities that subject your wrist and fingers to excess or repeated stress, like through throwing, hitting, or improperly lifting, combined with poor conditioning or lack of adequate warm-up, can contribute to golfer’s elbow.
No one is immune to these injuries. Although, Golf is one common cause of these symptoms. However, another common cause of this injury is with weekend carpenters who use hand tools on occasion.
Golfer’s Elbow Treatment
How do you fix epicondylitis?
Golfer’s elbow is a condition where the quicker treatment is begun, the better the prognosis. So do not delay your diagnosis and your consequent treatment. Your doctor may recommend the following self-care measures for Golfer’s elbow:
- If you have golfer’s elbow, stop doing the activity that is causing pain, or find an alternative way of doing it that does not place as much stress on your elbow.
- Avoid using your wrist and elbow more than the rest of your arm. Spread the load to the larger muscles of your shoulder and upper arm.
- If you play a sport that involves repetitive movements, getting some coaching advice to help improve your technique may help you avoid getting golfer’s elbow.
- Physical therapy is the primary management modality for medial epicondylitis. [2] Increasing the strength of your forearm muscles will help golfer’s elbow. Regularly carry out the exercises as indicated by your physiotherapist.
- Before doing activity that involves repetitive arm movements, warm up properly and gently stretch your arm muscles to help avoid injury.
- Use lightweight tools and enlarge their grip size to help you avoid putting excess strain on your tendons.
Related Reading: Tennis Elbow Treatment: Home Care & Physiotherapy
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How can physiotherapy help with medial epicondylitis?
Physiotherapy has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of golfer’s elbow. The idea of completing exercises is to recondition the muscles/tendons that have been affected. Therefore, the quicker treatment is begun with a physiotherapist, the better the recovery.
A physiotherapist is actually a specialist trained to work with a patient to restore their activity, strength, and motion following an injury or surgery. Physical therapy (PT) can teach patients specific exercises, stretches, and techniques, and use specialized equipment to address problems that cannot be managed without PT training. That is why, a physiotherapist can help decrease the pain caused by medial epicondylitis and improve the affected elbow’s motion, strength, and function.
The physiotherapy treatment will progress in phases using a combination of physiotherapy modalities, special techniques and elbow exercises and stretches. These are:
- Modalities: Cryotherapy, TENS, Phonophoresis, LASER, Iontophoresis, ESWT
- Appliances: Pan splint (Neutral cock up), Counterforce brace
- Exercises and Techniques: Submaximal isometrics, MWM, Maitland’s mobilization, Strengthening, Stretching, Deep transverse friction
- Lifestyle changes and activity modification advice
At ReLiva, you can avail physiotherapy treatment for Golfers Elbow with experienced physiotherapists. Our physio will address all your Golfers Elbow problems with care. Select as per your convenience to take physiotherapy treatment at a physiotherapy clinic near you, online physiotherapy at home or get in-home physiotherapy treatment for Golfers Elbow in your city. Ask for call back by clicking here or call us right away at +91 9920991584 to get started.
This post is based on the inputs from Dr Jeram Bhandva (PT). Dr Jeram is a Master in sports physiotherapy. He is skilled in treating sports injuries and issues related to muscle imbalance, trauma and degenerative disorders to aid faster and effective recovery and rehabilitation of his patients.
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Scientific References:
[1] Medically reviewed by William Morrison, M.D. — Written by Jenna Fletcher on February 2018. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320949#causes
[2] Hoogvliet P, Randsdorp MS, Dingemanse R, Koes BW, Huisstede BM. Does effectiveness of exercise therapy and mobilisation techniques offer guidance for the treatment of lateral and medial epicondylitis? A systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2013 Nov;47(17):1112-9. [PubMed] [Reference list]
[3] Chelladurai Ashok https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319000442_GOLFER’S_ELBOW
[4] Dr. Subhash M Khatri, Master in Musculoskeletal physiotherapy & Principal of college of physiotherapy Loni.
