Elbow injury

[Whydowedoit]

Just started playing again, I've had some lessons, & have changed a few things which needed doing. I'm now hitting down & compressing the ball much more, & as a result have been hitting it beautifully. However, I'm a serial practicer & yesterday spent 4 hours hitting over 200 balls plus more pitching & bunker practise. This resulted in a severe pain in the right elbow joint when I got home & it was quite some agony. took some painkillers & had an early night. It was really bad this morning but has improved quite a lot now. Rather worrying though. I'd point out that I'm single figure ability, aged 63, & right handed, pretty fit & strong for my age. I can see that I've probably overdone it a bit, but also there appears to be an inherent issue. I don't think having researched Tennis & Golf elbow, that its either, as the pain is inside the elnow joint. The elbow joint contains ligaments & a cartilage similar to the knee & I'm wonderingif I've got torn cartilage? Is there anyone else on here who suffers from this? & if so how do you treat it, live with it, fix it..???

 

[Beezerk]

That's golfers elbow, I got it in the same arm after a similar long practice session a few years ago. Tried to manage it for a few months but it was too painful and gave up in the end, sadly the only fix for me was to have a 3 or 4 week layoff from golf.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

If It is on your elbow / forearm then it sounds a bit like tennis elbow, I'm not a doctor by the way. If it isn't on the outside then I think it is golfers elbow.

There are ways to reduce this, there are past threads so use the search function. Rubber bars to twist worked for me, again this is covered in past threads.

Ultimately, you will need to reduce the intensity of your practice I suspect. I have had tennis elbow for 5+ year now. I need to reduce the tension in my arm, not grip so tightly, but I am at the point where I manage the pain. I've given up expecting it to go away whilst I am playing golf.

 

[Beezerk]

Inside elbow is golfers elbow mate ??
Yeah the twisting exercise helped a bit, palm facing up and twist round both way as much as you can. Also loads of ice on it with lots of Voltarol rubbed in deeply for good measure.

 

[Whydowedoit]

Holding my right hand to my heart, the pain is from inside to the outside of the elbow. Inside of the joint! Definately not the same as the above image. No pain at all in that area, so it cant be golfers elbow. Feels more like a ligament or cartilage but obviously I can't be sure. Pain feels very similar to an ACL tear in the knee, which I had reconstructed about 15 years ago. It comes on during a certain range of movement. Rest Ice Compression Elevation is usually the short term treatment for these types of things, but having moved house recently I've lost all my paraphernalia for that. feels like a winter away from Golf (& also rules out a lot of fitness stuff too) just when I was coming back nicely & forked out for a full membership. SO SO frustrating! Do appreciate this is not an injury website!

 

[Pants]

For the sake of £30/40, go and see a sports physio. They will diagnose and advise on what to do.

Oh. And follow their advice

 

[clubchamp98]

It’s probably an impact injury.
If your taking north of 200 divots a day it’s going to hurt.
Do you use standard or midsize grips ?
I had this issue a while ago and you need to see a phisio ASAP.
Just so your not doing excessive exercise that can make it worse.
Mine told me forget all the fancy gizmos and get a brush pole with a house brick on a string and wind it up and down at arms length straight out in front of you , it’s harder than you think.

 

[Whydowedoit]

Definately an impact injury. Just had two new gelpacks delivered so I can now ice it, plus an excellent elbow compression sleeve. Its calmed down a bit today but I'm going to rest it for a while & see how it goes. Really frustrating. Sorry to be a pain.

 

[RichA]

Definately an impact injury. Just had two new gelpacks delivered so I can now ice it, plus an excellent elbow compression sleeve. Its calmed down a bit today but I'm going to rest it for a while & see how it goes. Really frustrating. Sorry to be a pain.

100% rest it. Anything else, without the benefit of an expensive scan to accurately diagnose it, is just quackery.
Even an orthopaedic surgeon wouldn't give you a diagnosis on a joint injury without scanning it first.
It might clear up by itself in a week.

 

[sweaty sock]

Common in areas that have an unprecedented uptick in load. Going from not hitting balls to spending 4 hours load is a ludicrous amout. You should absolutely see a doctor to assess the damage and advise recovery.

Its getting alot more common in golfers, its been exasperated by things like speedstick etc, that can significantly increase the number of swings people do. As you would expect, your body is conditioned to your normal work load, and a significant increase, can break it. Particularly joints and connective tissues...

100% see a doctor.

 

[Billysboots]

I suffered from exactly this type of injury a couple of winters back, caused by spending too many hours hitting balls off mats on the range. It took a long time to gradually heal, and in my case it was a complete abstinence from range work which was needed.