Managing Elbow Pain

Published on 7th December 2017 in Local and Member News

Elbow injuries affect 25-33% of amateur golfers and 7-10% of all injuries in golf professionals (according to 2005 data). With women being almost twice as prone as men to the development of elbow injuries. No, this isn’t because females have poor technique, but it’s actually caused by the different bony anatomy of women. Many of the Dr Google articles are actually written with male golfers in mind, so for female golfers with elbow pain, please seek further advice from a qualified professional. 

Unmanaged elbow injuries reduce your playing time, accuracy, handicap as well as impact on your day-today living. Also, unmanaged elbow injuries increase risk of arthritis, tendon rupture, fractures and even chronic pain.

So the question is, are there any factors that golfers can change that reduce the chances of developing golfers elbow?

Get tips from a Pro:

This is an obvious point, but working with a seasoned golf pro will not only improve your game but also educate you on how to use your body correctly while playing to avoid injury. Working with a professional for just a couple of sessions is estimated to half your risk of injury in amateur players.

Loosen your grip:

The tighter your grip, the more “pull” on your tendons as well as tension through the forearm that attach to the elbow. This is a common theme that a lot of golf pros emphasise. The momentum of your strike should be coming from your hips, “it’s all in the hips” not your arms.

Strengthen your shoulder and your back:

If you’re noticing shoulder pain in your lead shoulder along with pain of the trailing elbow, you need to strengthen your shoulders. The shoulder has to go through nearly its full range of movement to enable you to swing properly, so having a strong lead shoulder will makes your swing more specific, leading to you being able to relax your trailing elbow. Additionally if you’re noticing any lower back or hip pain when twisting through your swing, you should be completing some core exercises to strengthen your torso and may require some treatment on your back as well.

See a professional for your pain:

We all will Dr Google our injuries, however a lot of healthcare providers (such as myself) are more than happy to have a quick phone consult and give you more specific advice to YOUR problem. Whether it’s a case of us quickly chatting about the pattern of the problem and providing some free advice and an email or two on appropriate stretches and strengthening, it’s much safer to call us then Dr Google your problem and potentially make it worse.
Sometimes, the use of techniques like dry needling as well as topical creams can be really effective for elbow pain. Topical creams can be applied over the site of the pain, where as dry needling uses a local trauma (painless) over the site if injury to encourage your blood to flow to that region and uses your bodies own inflammatory mediators to reduce pain and inflammation.

Stretch before and after:

Generally my advice has always been to stretch the muscles that become shorted both before and after you play and perform a quick warm up of strengthening exercises BEFORE you play. There are a few key muscle groups that can have a big impact on your game and just doing a few quick activations to ensure the muscles are ready to fire before tee-off can help you not over-use other groups.

Finally, should you require any further advice or tips please don’t hesitate to contact myself, at Flinders Osteo on 0403 759 943.

Dr. Brooke Stevenson, B.H.Sci, Mast. H. Sci (Osteopathy)

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