Most golfers have heard of the dreaded golfer’s elbow, and if you haven’t experienced this common overuse injury yet, be thankful. This annoying injury can cause plenty of pain and discomfort, and it can take a frustratingly long time for your elbow to return to normal.
There’s a reason it’s called golfer’s elbow – because the repeated motions of golf tend to cause this injury – although non-golfers can certainly get it as well. It’s just more common amongst golfers. If you notice any of the following symptoms, you may be dealing with golfer’s elbow:
- Pain on the inside of your elbow
- Pain when swinging your golf club
- A feeling of tingling or weakness in the arm or fingers
- Pain when you make a fist
- Elbow stiffness
- Difficulty holding your club correctly
Any of these symptoms can occur suddenly or may come on gradually, when playing golf or doing other activities. Common problem activities apart from golf include shaking hands, lifting weights or turning a doorknob. The muscle on the inside of your elbow will become inflamed, fatigued, painful and stiff, and if the condition is left untreated you may end up dealing with long-term stiffness and weakness that will impact your ability to play golf.
How to prevent golfer’s elbow
If you haven’t yet experienced golfer’s elbow, try these strategies to ensure you never do.
Strengthen
Work on strengthening all the muscles of the forearm to give yourself the best chance of remaining injury-free. Exercises such as bicep curls, dumbbell wrist flexion, wrist curls, farmer’s walks, cable rows, pull ups, bar hangs and planks with shoulder taps should all help. If you’re unfamiliar with these exercises, a quick google search should help, or see an exercise professional such as a personal trainer or exercise physiologist. Find one here.
Stretch
Stretching is always a good idea before you play a round, and general stretching of all your muscle groups is a good place to start. To help prevent golfer’s elbow, stretch your wrists and arms thoroughly before you go out to play. Search online for stretches you can do, or consult a personal trainer or exercise physiologist.
Golf technique
Making small adjustments to your golf technique will go a long way towards preventing a flare up of golfer’s elbow. Making changes to your grip can really impact how the muscles in your elbow and forearms work, and can make a big difference to your potential for injury. Ensure your grip is neutral, and loosen your grip just a little bit when playing so you’re not overtaxing your muscles. Correct technique is one of the keys to preventing injuries, so it’s also well worth getting a technique tune up from a golfing professional every now and then.
Equipment considerations
Using the right equipment will also help prevent golfer’s elbow from occurring. Make sure your clubs are correctly fitted to you, and that you select the correct club length for you. Clubs with a larger grip will help prevent golfer’s elbow, and graphite shafts will lessen vibration and make the game easier on your hands and arms.
How to treat golfer’s elbow
If you already have golfer’s elbow, there are ways you can manage and ease your symptoms to allow you to return to play. And it’s important that you do so early, to prevent a minor condition from turning into a more severe and chronic one.
Your first port of call should be a good physiotherapist. He or she should be able to diagnose and begin to treat the condition, allowing it to settle down and start to heal. In the initial stages of the injury when your elbow is inflamed and painful, you may have to take a break from playing regular golf until the pain subsides. Ice and over the counter pain relief may help with this. An elbow brace might also be helpful to reduce tendon and muscle strain and allow you to carry out everyday tasks without too much pain.
You will usually have to undertake a program of strengthening and stretching exercises prescribed by your physio, as progressive loading of the tendon has been proven to effectively reduce pain and symptoms. Be guided by the professional when it comes to returning to golf, and don’t be tempted to return to playing too early, even if your symptoms are subsiding. You will be able to gradually return to your usual activities, but if you rush back too quickly, you’ll often end up triggering the almost-healed injury again and finding yourself back at square one. When you do gradually return to golf, just be aware of how much you are using your elbow (both in golf play and everyday life) and try not to overuse it.
If conservative treatment doesn’t work, you may have to consider other options such as cortisone injections or surgery, but this would be quite rare.
So, don’t let golfer’s elbow derail your game. With some preventative maintenance or good treatment, getting some good habits in place and conservatively returning to the game, you should be able to manage this annoying condition and get back to the sport you love.
Click here to read more about how to minimise golf injuries.
