From Symptoms to Treatment: Know Everything About Golfer’s Elbow
Do you understand what a golfer’s elbow is? Well! Let’s start with a short introduction to give you a brief overview.
Golfer’s elbow is a serious condition that causes immense pain where the tendons of your forearm muscles connect to the bony lump inside your elbow. There is a high chance of pain spreading into your entire forearm and wrist. It is quite a similar situation to tennis elbow, which happens outside the elbow. If you think this can happen only to golfers, you are wrong. Whether it’s a tennis player or someone who frequently uses their wrists or clenches their fingers, they have a high chance of developing golfer’s elbow.
Furthermore, the pain of a golfer’s elbow does not have to stop you from playing golf or turn you away from your favourite sport. Likewise, in this write-up, we will discuss all the aspects from golfer’s elbow symptoms to treatments. Rest and the right treatment can get you back in form.
Essential Symptoms of Golfer’s Elbow
The severe golfer’s elbow pain can come without any prior notice or gradually. However, the pain might get worse with specific movements, like swinging a golf club or throwing a ball. Likewise, here we have mentioned the characterization of golfer’s elbow that you must know:
1. Pain and Tenderness
This immense kind of pain is normally felt on the inner elbow side, the ache sometimes extends along the inner side of your forearm. Hence, over time, pain normally gets worse with certain movement activities.
2. Weakness
Due to the golfer’s elbow, you might feel weakness in your wrists and hands.
3. Stiffness
In this painful condition, your elbow might feel stiff, and you might develop a painful fist.
4. Tingling or Numbness
These painful sensations may radiate into one or more fingers. Normally, the ring and little fingers experience a kind of numbness and tingling.
Moreover, golfer’s elbow symptoms can take more than weeks or months to develop into a painful condition. At the beginning of this condition, you will feel slight pain in your inner elbow that might worsen over time. Here are some other symptoms of golfer’s elbow that you must know:
- Decreased Grip Strength
- Pain When Trying to Make a Fist
- Aching Pain in Forearm or Wrist
- Pain Radiates Up and Down the Arm
What are the Significant Causes of Golfer’s Elbow?
Golfer’s elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is the result of injury to the muscles and tendons that govern your fingers and wrist. The injury is most often associated with repetitive or excessive stress, particularly forceful wrist and finger movement. Inadequate warmup, insufficient conditioning, inappropriate lifting, throwing or hitting also can lead to golfer’s elbow. So, before searching for the best sports injuries treatment centre near me, know the precise details about the cause so you can explain it to your doctor. It is not limited to golf. Several activities and jobs can cause golfer’s elbow, such as:
1. Racket Sports
Poor technique in playing tennis shots, specifically the backhand, can lead to severe injury to the tendons. Overuse of topspin and playing with a too-small or too-heavy racket can also contribute to injury.
2. Throwing Sports
Poor pitching technique in softball or baseball can be another offender. Javelin throwing, archery and football can also lead to golfer’s elbow.
3. Weight Training
Lifting weights with incorrect form, for example, curling wrists in a biceps exercise, will overtax the elbow muscles and tendons.
4. Forceful, Repetitive Occupational Movements
These take place in construction, plumbing and carpentry jobs.
What are the Crucial Risk Factors for Medial Epicondylitis?
Here in this section, you will find some crucial risk factors of developing golfer’s elbow:
- If you have diabetes
- If you are going through obesity
- If you smoke
- If you spend more hours in a repetitive action
- If your age is 40 or above
How Doctors Diagnose Golfer’s Elbow?
At Kush Orthopedic & Health Centre, our top-notch doctor will ask what activities make your elbow hurt. They’ll examine your arm for specific positions and/or movements that cause severe pain. Other tests might include:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Ultrasound
Computed tomography (CT) scans
Management and Treatment
What is the Treatment for Golfer’s Elbow?
Without thinking twice, give a good amount of break to your arm. The top-notch doctors recommend keeping your arm in a resting position for at least four to six weeks before resuming your sports and daily activities that put strain on your arm. Furthermore, here are the other precise golfer’s elbow treatments included:
- Wearing a Night Splint
- Use Ice on the Forearm
- Using Kinesiology Tape
- Considering Physical Therapy
- Take Anti-Inflammatory Medicines
- Wearing a brace on your forearm
Here are some additional treatments that will help you in preventing golfer’s elbow condition:
- Prolotherapy to stimulate your body’s healing process
- Botulinum toxin (Botox®) injection to paralyze nerve signals and alleviate pain
- Extracorporeal shock wave therapy stimulates blood flow and induces healing by transmitting high-intensity sound waves
- Massage to stimulate pressure points and nerve endings to heal and decrease pain
- Topical nitroglycerin patches to suppress inflammation
- Corticosteroid injections for the relief of symptoms over the short term
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to suppress pain and enhance function
- TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) helps to relieve the pain
Even after considering the above treatment relief procedure, if you have not had any improvement in your symptoms for over six months to one year, the doctor may suggest surgery. However, this happens in rare cases.
When Should You Visit Your Healthcare Provider?
If you still have signs even after properly resting your arm, considering all the treatments mentioned above and doing physical therapy, you should immediately contact your doctor. You will not end up in the emergency room due to Golfer’s elbow. However, your signs might be a serious problem. Visit the emergency room if:
- The elbow looks deformed
- The elbow feels inflamed or hot
- If you have a fever
- You think you might have broken a bone
How to Prevent Golfer’s Elbow?
Here we have mentioned the countless ways to prevent golfer’s elbow.
- Give special care to your wrist and forearm while warming up for sports.
- Adjust your sports equipment and/or technique.
- Wear a brace at work to assist in providing your wrist with extra support.
- Create breaks whenever possible to do soothing stretches or even just rest your arm.
- Exercise complete proper shoulder strengthening exercises under the guidance of a physical therapist.
Summing Up!
We hope you understand all the key aspects that you must consider if you are feeling like you are suffering unbearable pain in your elbow. However, if you are searching for the best sports injuries treatment centre near me, Kush Orthopedic & Health Centre has got you covered. We have a team of expert doctors who are well qualified and have years of hands-on experience in their respective fields. Our patient-centric approach is our primary goal. So, do not waste another minute and book your appointment or connect with us over a call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Golfer’s elbow is also known as medial epicondylitis. Therefore, due to overload or overuse of the elbow, it is the primary reason why tendinopathy of the medial joint flexor tendon of the elbow.
The primary condition of golfer’s elbow heals within 3 to 6 months with non-surgical treatments like pain medicines, ice, rest, and physical therapy. Furthermore, in unbearable cases or those who need surgery, they might have longer recovery times.
No, not at all. Golfer’s elbow is normal, not permanent. Most individuals recover in a few effective days with proper rest and treatment.