Tennis Elbow & Golfer’s Elbow: Causes and Treatments

Are you struggling with nagging elbow pain that just won’t go away? Whether you’re an athlete or you spend your day at a desk, tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow can sneak up on anyone and turn everyday tasks into a painful challenge.

I’m Lauren Masi, physical therapist and Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. I’m also the owner and clinical services director of Bay Area Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy. Today, we’re going to talk about tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow and some of the causes and treatments of those pathologies. 

What Are Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow?

Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are the layperson terms for medial or lateral epicondylitis, respectively. Lateral means the outer side, medial means the inner side. And the epicondyle is the bony projections on either side of the elbow. When we talk about epicondylitis, –itis means “inflammation.” 

Epicondylitis is when the tendons that connect the muscles of our forearms to our elbows become irritated and inflamed. The forearm extensor muscles connect to the lateral epicondyle (the outside of the elbow). The flexor muscles connect to the medial epicondyle (the inside of the elbow). 

If the inflammation from epicondylitis becomes chronic, then we call it epicondylosis. This means you’ve probably had the inflammation for a while and you’re feeling chronic symptoms. 

Why Are These Conditions Called “Tennis” and “Golfer’s” Elbow?

As the names tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow originally suggested, these conditions are much more common for people who play these sports. 

  • Tennis: The backhand stroke often stresses the outer part of the elbow, leading to tennis elbow.
  • Golf: The follow-through in a golf swing tends to affect the inner side of the elbow, causing golfer’s elbow.

Does that mean that those are the only people who get this condition? Certainly not. You don’t even have to be playing those sports to experience these things. 

Sometimes people who do a lot of gripping tasks in their jobs, like manual laborers, or those who spend a lot of time typing can end up with either of these conditions. This is especially true if you have poor posture or ergonomics when doing your job. 

How Physical Therapists Diagnose Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow

A lot of times, we’re going to ask you what you were doing before your symptoms started. Was there any change in your activity? That’s our job as your physical therapist, to make sure we evaluate all of these things and look at the whole picture. 

We also need to decide whether it’s okay for you to push through some of the discomfort, or whether we need to tell you to back off or modify your activity. And we can confidently make those recommendations because we have a musculoskeletal ultrasound, which lets us see the integrity of your tendon. 

With this tool, I can look and say, “Hey, is there inflammation in this area? Is there any micro tearing, or is there a more significant tear that would require complete rest?” We encourage making sure that we know the integrity of your tendons before we tell you how to proceed. 

Can Cortisone Injections Help with Tennis Elbow or Golfer’s Elbow?

Sometimes people get cortisone injections to help treat these elbow conditions. This may be the correct solution for you, but we might recommend against it based on what we see in that ultrasound. 

For example, we know that cortisone can weaken tissue. Cortisone injections are often provided with a bit of a painkiller, which is why people feel some relief, but it might not always last. If you are someone who has some micro tearing or even more significant tearing in the elbow, I might be hesitant to recommend a cortisone injection because I don’t want the cortisone to further weaken the tissue and put you at risk of any more serious tearing or damage. 

There are other injections that your doctors might recommend including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. This is where your blood is drawn and the platelets are separated from the other material. The platelets are then injected back into your body to assist with healing. But as our motto goes here, we always want to try conservative care first. 

How Physical Therapy Can Treat Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow

As I mentioned earlier, we’re going to look at your activity level. We’re going to look at your ergonomics and, if you participate in any sports, the mechanics of your athletic movement. Here are some of the ways that physical therapy can help you with these elbow conditions: 

  • Ergonomics & Sports Mechanics: We assess the way you move during daily tasks or sports to identify any problematic mechanics or inflexibility contributing to the pain and inflammation.
  • Stretching & Soft Tissue Work: Stretching and soft tissue massage reduce stress on the tendons and bones and help restore flexibility.
  • Strengthening: We focus on strengthening the muscles closer to the trunk—like the shoulder and back muscles—to reduce the load on the smaller muscles of the elbow.

Schedule a Consultation at Bay Area PT

We hope to get you back to function as soon as possible and make sure that this pain stays away. If you need any help healing your golfer’s or tennis elbow, please give us a call at (925) 284-3840 for a complimentary consultation today.

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