Tennis Elbow or Golfers Elbow

Lets start by saying that you can have either of these and not be a golfer or a tennis players.

What is Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is the term used for pain felt over the outside of the elbow.   Medically this is referred to as “Lateral Epicondylalgia”. This is caused by pain from the tendons of the extensor muscles of the forearm and where they attach to the bone. These are the muscles that run up the back of the forearm and cause the wrist to bend backwards or “extend”.

Causes of Tennis Elbow

The tendons can compress against the bone at the outside of the elbow where they attach eventually resulting in pain.  Typical reasons this may happen include:

• A sudden increase in use of the muscles.This may be from heavier use as well as longer use, or more frequent use
• Return to activity after a break
• Doing too much too quick
• Lack of recovery time between use of the muscles

Common symptoms of tennis elbow:

Pain is felt over the outside of the elbow and can refer into the muscles of the outside of the lower arm.

Pain is often with use, but eases with rest

Pain is felt if you push on the injured spot at the outside of the elbow

Pain can be felt with gripping

Pain that continues to persist after doing activity despite not using the arm and is felt at night may also include some nerve related component. The neck and upper limb nerves may need to be assessed in this situation

Best treatment for Tennis Elbow:

Rest IS NOT best. It is important you continue to use the arm at a level where you don’t aggravate your pain. As your physios, we spend a lot of time ascertaining what you do in the day and the positions you get into. These may be aggravating your pain without you realising. Simply learning how to hold your arm and wrist in the positions where the tendons cannot compress on the bones throughout your daily postures can make a big difference to your pain.

Trial rehabilitation first. Corticosteroid injection is not the best option in the long run although it can provide good relief in the first 6 weeks.  Rehabilitation of tennis elbow includes:

• Education of how to position your arm to best reduce tendon compression
• Education on how much to reduce what you do and how to progress what you do so as to not aggravate your pain
• Specific exercises that strengthen the tendon 
• A general exercise program to maintain good upper limb and all over strength
• Advice about possible use of a brace or taping

What is Golfers Elbow

Golfers elbow is the term used for pain felt over the inside of the elbow.   Medically this is referred to as “Medial Epicondylalgia”. This is caused by pain from the tendons of the forearm flexor muscles and where they attach to the bone. These are the muscles that run up the front of the forearm and cause the wrist to bend forwards or “flex”.

Causes of golfers elbow

The tendons can compress against the bone on the inside of the elbow where they attach eventually resulting in pain.  Typical reasons this may happen are similar to that for tennis elbow and include:

• A sudden increase in use of the muscles.This may be from heavier use as well as longer use, or more frequent use. Typically the activity has an element of gripping or wrist flexion (bend)
• Return to activity after a break
• Doing too much too quick
• Lack of recovery time between use of the muscles

Common symptoms of golfers elbow:

Pain is felt over the inside of the elbow and can refer into the muscles on the front lower arm.

Pain is often with use, but eases with rest

Pain is felt if you push on the injured spot at the inside of the elbow

Pain can be felt with gripping or bending the wrist.

Pain that continues to persist after doing activity despite not using the arm and is felt at night may also include some nerve related component. The neck and upper limb nerves may need to be assessed in this situation

Best treatment for golfers elbow

This is the same as for tennis elbow so please read through the sections above for more information. Although exercises are important it is often the education and advice on how to manage the tendon that will help you make some of the biggest improvements in recovery.