Tennis and Golfer’s elbow are common injuries that occur in the tendons of the elbow, also known as ‘tendinopathy’.
Tendons are strong elastic springs that anchor muscles to the bone. They have a small blood supply so are usually white, compared to the rich red of the muscle belly. The reduced blood supply means they take a little longer than muscles to recover and rebuild after exercise.
If a tendon is knocked hard, or overworked day after day without allowing time for recovery, it gradually weakens and causes pain. The classic symptoms of tendon weakness are:
Morning stiffness that is worse the day after exercising it,
Pain as the muscle/tendon fatigues or works at its limit,
Sharp occasional pain that can progress to a nagging ache,
And localised pain when touching or stretching the tendon.
Our forearm muscles, the muscles responsible for finger and wrist movement, anchor via tendons to the bony points on either side of the elbow. Golfer’s elbow refers to the inner elbow or ‘common flexor tendon’, and Tennis elbow refers to the outer elbow or ‘common extensor tendon’.
And yes, these injuries can happen even if you don’t play tennis or golf!
Tennis elbow is quite common and frequently occurs with repetitive gripping like using the garden snips. Golfer’s elbow is less common and usually occurs due to awkward gripping postures at work (or always hitting the ground when swinging the golf club).
You have probably experienced this tendon pain before. It is quite normal if we do something heavy that our body is not used to. Our tendons might be stiff and tender for a day or two, then recover.
If the pain continues for over 2 weeks or is gradually worsening, it is important to seek help. At this point, the tendon has become weak enough that even day to day tasks are overloading it.
Physiotherapists help by showing you how to gradually strengthen the tendon again. Once you know the safe starting point, it is a simple process of patiently, gradually increasing the load each week.
Physiotherapists also look for contributing factors, such as poor technique or weakness in neighbouring and stabilising muscles. Imaging and injections are usually not needed but can be helpful in severe, chronic cases.
The weaker a tendon gets, the longer it takes to recover. If you have pain gradually building over a couple months, you can expect it to take a couple of months to recover. So, this is one to get onto sooner rather than later.
Contact any of our clinics if you suspect you might have tennis or golfers' elbow.
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