Last updated: August 2026 • Reading time: ~4 minutes
Your elbow hurts every time you swing a golf club, lift a bag, or even shake someone’s hand. You are not imagining it. This is a real injury, and it has a name: golfer’s elbow.
Golfer’s elbow shows up a lot in August. Golf season is in full swing across Connecticut and the Northeast, and so are the aches that come with it. The good news is that this injury is common, well studied, and very treatable.
What Is Golfer’s Elbow?
Golfer’s elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is an injury to the tendons on the inside of your elbow. These tendons connect your forearm muscles to a small bump of bone called the medial epicondyle. When you grip, swing, or flex your wrist over and over, tiny tears build up in the tendon. Over time, that adds up to pain.
You do not need to play golf to get it. Painters, carpenters, weightlifters, and even people who type all day can develop the same injury. A large study of Korean health records found that cases of golfer’s elbow have been climbing steadily, with about three out of every 1,000 people diagnosed each year.
What Does Golfer’s Elbow Feel Like?
Most people feel a dull ache on the inside of the elbow. It can spread down into the forearm. Gripping a coffee cup, turning a doorknob, or shaking hands can make it worse. Some people notice their forearm feels weak or stiff in the morning.
Golfer’s elbow is the lesser known cousin of tennis elbow, which affects the outside of the elbow instead. If you have already dealt with that condition, you already know how stubborn tendon pain can be.
How Do You Treat Golfer’s Elbow?
Rest is the first step. Give the tendon a break from the motion that caused the problem, usually for four to six weeks. Ice helps calm the pain down after activity.
Eccentric exercises, slow, controlled stretches that lengthen the muscle under light resistance, are one of the most studied treatments. A 2026 review in Complementary Therapies in Medicine looked at five separate studies and found that eccentric exercise led to real drops in pain and real gains in function, with some patients staying pain free for years afterward.
For cases that do not improve with rest and exercise, some doctors use platelet rich plasma injections. A 2023 study in Orthopaedic Surgery followed 209 patients treated this way and found significant pain relief and better elbow function six months later, with no complications.
Chiropractic care, physical therapy, and bracing are other options many people use alongside rest and exercise. A chiropractor can also check whether tightness in the shoulder or neck, like the kind covered in our rotator cuff pain guide, is adding extra strain to your arm.
How Can You Prevent Golfer’s Elbow?
Warm up your forearm before golf, tennis, or any repetitive gripping activity. Stretch your wrist and forearm gently before and after.
Your grip matters too. A 2024 study in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders found that golfers who used a more ergonomic grip had noticeably less forearm muscle activity during their swing, which may lower injury risk over time.
Overuse injuries like this one often show up alongside other overuse problems. If you have had hip bursitis or other nagging pain from repeated motion, it is worth looking at your overall activity load, not just the one sore joint.
The Bottom Line
Golfer’s elbow is common, especially in the summer months when golf, gardening, and yard work pick up. It is also very treatable. Most people get better with rest, ice, and the right exercises. If the pain sticks around past a few weeks, it is worth getting it checked out so you can get back to your swing without wincing.
Sources & Further Reading
- Park HS, Jo SM, Dasari S, Moon YL. “Comparison of Clinical Outcomes of Platelet-Rich Plasma for Epicondylitis, Elbow: Simultaneous Lateral and Medial Versus Lateral Versus Medial.” Orthopaedic Surgery. 2023;15(8):2110-2115.
- “Eccentric Exercise Therapy for Medial Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review of Clinical Outcomes.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 2026.
- “An Ergonomic Golf Grip Leads to Lower Forearm Muscle Activity: A Prospective Case Series of 30 Right-Handed Amateur and Professional Golfers.” BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2024.
- “Epidemiology of Lateral and Medial Epicondylitis in South Korea: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.” Medicine (Baltimore). 2025.
