Can Golf Cause Tennis Elbow?

Are you experiencing pain around your elbow after a busy stretch of playing golf? Chances are this overuse has caused a very common ailment, but by a name you might not realize. Let’s take a look at if golf can cause tennis elbow.

What is Tennis Elbow?

According to the Mayo Clinic, “tennis elbow” is a term applied to lateral epicondylitis, a painful condition that includes inflammation in the tendons around your elbow. A common cause of this condition — which usually occurs on the lateral (or outside) portion of your elbow — is through repeated overuse.

It’s referred to as “tennis elbow” due to a common motion found in that sport: the backhand volley. While there are many potential movements that can lead to this condition, tennis players often suffer from the ailment. However, inflammation around the elbow can also occur on the medial — or “inside” — portion of the joint.

What is Golfer’s Elbow?

Similar to tennis elbow, “golfer’s elbow” describes the pain felt from inflammation on the opposite side of your elbow. Having experienced this ailment myself, I can confirm it is quite painful and can sometimes lead to numbness in the joint. Not fun.

When swinging a golf club more often than usual, and especially when making hard contact with the ground, golfers may overuse their arm joints. This can result in the aforementioned inflammation in your elbow, followed by pain and discomfort.

What is the treatment?

While I am not a medical professional and this is not to be perceived as medical advice, I do know what was recommended to me by my doctor.

My doctor recommended ice for the pain at first, as a means to lower the inflammation. I also supplemented this simple treatment with aspirin to help with pain relief. In addition, a few simple exercises was recommended to me to help strengthen the muscles around my elbow. These included squeezing a tennis ball (how ironic), using light weights to do wrist curls, and other similar movements.