GOLFER’S ELBOW

If you have golfer's elbow, your physical therapist will work with you to devise a treatment plan specific to your condition 

and goals. Your personalized treatment program may include:

Pain management. Your physical therapist will help you identify and avoid painful movements. Avoiding these will allow the inflamed tendon to heal. Your physical therapist may use or recommend:

• Ice, ice massage, or moist heat.
• Iontophoresis (medication delivered through an electrically charged patch).
• Bracing or splinting.
• Facilitation of tissue repair using modalities such as ultrasound or laser treatment
• Kinesiotaping helps by relieving pressure, relaxing muscles and may increase circulation

• Manual therapy. 

  use manual techniques to help the muscles regain full movement. These may include:

  • Gentle joint movements.
  • Soft-tissue massage.
  • Elbow, forearm, and wrist stretches.

  Manual stretching and other techniques on your shoulder and thoracic spine.

  These areas also can be affected by muscle imbalances along the chain of muscles and connective tissue involving the elbow.

• Range-of-motion exercises. 

  You will learn mobility exercises and self-stretches to help your elbow and wrist maintain proper movement.

  Strengthening exercises.

  • Isometric exercises (muscle contractions).
  • Isometric wrist strengthening (extension)
  • Isometric wrist flexion
  • Resistance exercises to challenge weaker muscles (using weights, medicine balls, or resistance bands).
  • Resisted wrist extension and flexion.

   

Golfer’s elbow is a condition that causes pain at the bony bump on the inner side of the elbow and may radiate to the forearm region. Medically it is termed as medial epicondylitis, which is less commonly found compared to tennis elbow.

 It is a condition that develops when the tendons on the inside of the forearm become irritated, inflamed, and painful. Repetitive use of the hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow causes golfer's elbow.Golfer’s elbow is a condition that causes pain at the bony bump on the inner side of the elbow and may radiate to the forearm region. Medically it is termed as medial epicondylitis, which is less commonly found compared to tennis elbow.

 It is a condition that develops when the tendons on the inside of the forearm become irritated, inflamed, and painful. Repetitive use of the hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow causes golfer's elbow.

A physical therapist can help decrease the pain caused by medial epicondylitis and improve the affected elbow's motion, strength, and function.

Physical therapists are movement experts. They improve quality of life through hands-on care, patient education, and prescribed movement. 

 People with golfer's elbow may experience:

• Pain along the inside of the forearm with wrist, hand, or elbow movements.
• Pain or numbness and tingling that radiates from the inside of the elbow into the hand and fingers when gripping or squeezing.
• Tenderness to touch and swelling along the inside of the forearm.
• Weakness in the hand and forearm when gripping objects.
• Elbow stiffness.

The exact cause of golfer's elbow is not known, but it is thought to be caused by small tears or damage to the tendons that attach to the medial epicondyle. This can result in pain, inflammation, and weakness in the forearm muscles.