Golfer’s Elbow: Three months and NO improvement! Now what?

[Oxford]

I got Golfer’s Elbow from tennis about three months ago. I know how and why and have fixed it. So I have stopped playing, read everything here and on the internet about it, talked with professional coaches and seen my family doctor who plays tennis.

My doc gave me Naproxen anti-inflammatory meds. Did nothing. I do stretches. Nothing. Ice and heat. Nothing. Do curls and massages…nada. I push my palms together in front of my chest to check on the sensitivity every few days and it feels the same as the first day; not extremely painful but I’m not improving. At ALL!!

So what gives? I understand that GE takes longer than Tennis Elbow but this sucks. I am 55 and in great shape and I’m dieing to play again.

The only thing I have not tried is acupuncture or those cortisone injections. I am about ready for that. Hopefully, surgery is not on the list.

After three months I expected SOME friggin improvement.

Thanks for letting me vent. Let me know what you know about all this please. I am frustrated and desperate.

OX

 

[Midlife crisis]

I had a couple of mild bouts of this when I started playing again after 15 years. There's one exercise that I started doing that basically has prevented it from coming back for me. I would not recommend doing this until normal activity doesn't cause you any pain, possibly even consulting with your doctor to make sure there isn't anything in this exercise that might make things worse.

Anyhow, what I do is to hold something headheavy, like a hammer or monkey wrench, in my hand. Sitting in a chair, I then lay my forearm on my thigh, and then I rotate the hammer/monkey wrench back and forth through a 180 degree arc using only wrist rotation.

One direction of rotation will probably feel quite sensitive, and the other won't. I started out with a hammer and did five or six sets of ten full rotations back and forth, and worked up to where I can use a wood tennis racquet with a full wood press on it.

Again, be careful in starting this up, and make definitely don't do it at all if it hurts. Good luck.

 

[Japanese Maple]

Oxford, you should most definitely get involved with sessions with a physical therapist. Besides giving you proper stretches and strength exercises that are supervised, they can give you ultrasound to promote healing. Go see a physical therapist!

 

[maleyoyo]

I khow exactly what you are going through because I too suffered from GE. It seems to me treating GE is more like an art, not exact science, and it requires a lot of patience. You should give it enough time to heal however long it takes.
Three things I did that I found most effective to ease the pain:
1.Deep tissue massage the whole forearm and upper arm esp the tricep area.
2.Press and massage firmly right on the pain area.
Here's the link in case you need it:
http://www.kreinik.com/articles/news.php?newsid=32
3.Rehab excersices not just the forearms but biceps and triceps as well. I love doing the close grips pull-up with normal and reverse grips for your forearms.

The whole idea is to relieve the muscle tension and increase circulation to the injured area and the area around it.

 

[courtrage]

Look up Dr. John E. Sarno. His books are geared toward back pain but his info helped with my tendon issues as well... i got two of his books on CD. you can find him on amazon. The one i recomend on CD is the shorter of the two "healing back pain". I dont worry about any pain any more... best 15$ i ever spent and i had pains for years.

 

[CAM178]

I have had this twice in my playing life (25 yrs), so I know about this intimately. What it sounds like to me is that while you are not playing, you are still doing things that are aggravating the injury. For me, I had to lay off of everything that would aggravate it.

I also went through a wrist injury earlier this year, which forced me to lay off of tennis for 7 months. At 36 yrs old, that was pretty tough to do. But the wrist is finally healed.

For an injury like this, only time will help. You've got to be mindful of what you do on a daily basis. Stop doing any activities that might injure the tendons. When I had this as a junior, I could not even lift a racquet. I had to take a year off when I was 14, which essentially killed anything that I wanted to do with tennis.

Just be diligent and cautious about it. You'll get better before you know it!

 

[Oxford]

Thanks for the great replies Much appreciated.

I have tried not to aggravate it but will notice some sensation when raising a window (lifting motion) or just moving things around the garage. It may be tender for a few hours but it goes away.

What is odd is I can ask 5 people what works best and get 10 different answers. I would of thought in this day of advanced medicine that there would be ONE recommended protocol for recovery.

FYI -- Here are recommendations to date:
- Ice
- Heat
- constriction ban
- rest (do nothing)
- ultrasound
- surgery
- anti-inflammatories
- NO anti inflammatories
- massage
- deep finger massage to point of pain generation
- stretch
- wrist curls with weights
- wrist turns with weights
- acupuncture
- cortisone injections

One of the most respected coaches in California finally said in the 100s of cases of TE and GE he's seen, there does not appear to be ONE proven method that works best for everyone.

In my case, it is not getting any worst...or better. I find heat and stretching seems to make it feel better. But overall, it does not seem to be healing.:?

So there it is...I guess.

 

[volusiano]

When I read up about tennis elbow, many places say it's also known as golfer's elbow. But here you make a distinction that you have GE from tennis, and imply that GE takes longer to heal than TE. Do you mind elaborating the difference in your opinion?

I had severe TE about a year ago and it took about 3 months to heal to about 90%. I concluded that it will probably never healed to 100% unless I stop playing altogether for at least a year or more. And then there's no guarantee that I won't ever run into it again when I resume playing. So I decided to resume playing and carefully manage the remaining 10% of my TE through a variety of means, rest included, and so far so good.

 

[CAM178]

I find heat and stretching seems to make it feel better. But overall, it does not seem to be healing.:?

No offense meant, but there's your answer: you're still aggravating it. Leave it alone altogether. Heating and stretching it are horrible for that, in my opinion. The best way to explain it is this: you are essentially taking something that is torn already, and by stretching it, you are tearing it even more. Since you have not been able to do leave the injury alone, it is not able to heal. Let your body heal itself.

 

[CAM178]

When I read up about tennis elbow, many places say it's also known as golfer's elbow. But here you make a distinction that you have GE from tennis, and imply that GE takes longer to heal than TE. Do you mind elaborating the difference in your opinion?

I had severe TE about a year ago and it took about 3 months to heal to about 90%. I concluded that it will probably never healed to 100% unless I stop playing altogether for at least a year or more. And then there's no guarantee that I won't ever run into it again when I resume playing. So I decided to resume playing and carefully manage the remaining 10% of my TE through a variety of means, rest included, and so far so good.

TE is not GE. Of what I know, TE is on the outside of the elbow, GE is on the inside. In other words: if you take your arm and lay it down flat on a table with the palm facing up, what you would be looking at is GE. Flip the arm over, and that's where TE would be. As to healing times, it completely depends on the severity of injury. For me, I had major tears and was told not to play. But being young and competitive, I got challenged by one of the top juniors in the country (he was being funny about it, and was talking some big smack. . . he told me he'd kick my ass right-handed (lefty). . . LOL). So I played against him, and couldn't lift my arm for 4 days after, and was out another 8 months.

You need to take this injury more seriously than any other injury for tennis, in my opinion. Shoulder is really bad, too, but this one is different because sometimes you can feel it, sometimes you can not. So you might go out there thinking it's getting better when it has not, and you potentially do far more harm than good. With a shoulder, you know RIGHT away that you can't play. Elbow is serious. Good luck healing, Oxford!

 

[danielpreston]

Every sympathy Oxford.

I've got GE too. Tried everything - nothing seemed to work, so I laid off everything including the physio. Now it's week 15, and I'm definitely getting better, but still no tennis, but then I'm a little younger - 18 yrs.

What's been maddening from my point of view, is that I took a gap year between high school and college to get my national ranking and rating a little higher to be more attractive for a tennis scholarship; but literally in Week 1 of training I got GE!

 

[CAM178]

What's been maddening from my point of view, is that I took a gap year between high school and college to get my national ranking and rating a little higher to be more attractive for a tennis scholarship; but literally in Week 1 of training I got GE!

It sounds like you are going to have to do what I did when this happened: re-engineer your forehand. My FH was a very wristy, heavy topspin shot, and destroyed my elbow. Re-engineering was the way to go for me. I didn't have much choice, and it actually worked out very well.

 

[chess9]

I was reading an article the other day that suggested using the eccentric phase of lifts to strengthen and heal inflamed tendons. If yours is torn, this probably is not adviseable, and regardless I would discuss this approach with your doctor. For GE, it would involve using a relatively heavy dumbbell, using your non-injured hand to assist lifting UP the dumbbell and then slowly allow the dumbbell to drop. You would put your injured hand on your leg, palm up, and do them from that position.

I'm trying this for patellar femoral tendonitis which is slight in my left knee and worse in my right knee. I've just started with the leg press machine using 200 lbs. I push the pad up with both legs, then relax one leg 90% while I do the eccentric return phase SLOWLY. Then repeat with the other leg. Supposedly, this takes about 6-10 weeks.

-Robert

 

[bzazut]

Hi,
I suffer from GE for more than a year, i am 43, General Surgeon, playing tennis 3-4 times a week.
nothing i did alleviated it completely, the only thing that enables me continuing playing is an elbow brace which has two pressure cushions on both sides of the elbow.
Unfortunately there are no miracles as far as GE, you will have to learn to live and play with that.

 

[Japanese Maple]

I got Golfer’s Elbow from tennis about three months ago. I know how and why and have fixed it. So I have stopped playing, read everything here and on the internet about it, talked with professional coaches and seen my family doctor who plays tennis.

My doc gave me Naproxen anti-inflammatory meds. Did nothing. I do stretches. Nothing. Ice and heat. Nothing. Do curls and massages…nada. I push my palms together in front of my chest to check on the sensitivity every few days and it feels the same as the first day; not extremely painful but I’m not improving. At ALL!!

So what gives? I understand that GE takes longer than Tennis Elbow but this sucks. I am 55 and in great shape and I’m dieing to play again.

The only thing I have not tried is acupuncture or those cortisone injections. I am about ready for that. Hopefully, surgery is not on the list.

After three months I expected SOME friggin improvement.

Thanks for letting me vent. Let me know what you know about all this please. I am frustrated and desperate.

OX

Oxford, have you been involved with professional physical therapy? You have only yourself to blame if you are treating this yourself without success and relying on amatuer internet advice.

 

[Oxford]

Hi,
I suffer from GE for more than a year, i am 43, General Surgeon, playing tennis 3-4 times a week.
nothing i did alleviated it completely, the only thing that enables me continuing playing is an elbow brace which has two pressure cushions on both sides of the elbow.
Unfortunately there are no miracles as far as GE, you will have to learn to live and play with that.

So Doc? What are you telling me? :shock:

I am stuck with it forever?

That's a new one for my list.

ox

 

[bzazut]

What I'm saying is that it will attenuate with time to the point you will be able to tolerate and play with the pain. having said so, that doesn't mean you should not get an orthopedic consultation!
take in consideration that most probably the GE is due to the way you heat the ball/the movement you are doing

 

[southpaw]

I had a real bad case of GE (age: mid thirties). I tried everything with the exception of acupuncture, injections or surgery. None of the usual recommended off the court remedies helped much.

My routine was rest at little, play a little, light exercise. Rinse and repeat. I could still play ok, and the pain was tolerable, but it was still there. Here's what I did, and I don't recommend it, but it worked for me. I used the injury. I wanted the pain. I tried every combo of technique and equipment available: small, large, light, heavy, stiff, flexy frames, poly, gut, kevlar strings, high and low tension.... If something aggravated the pain AT ALL, I dropped it. I changed only one variable at a time, all the time keeping track of what helped and what hurt. Took months of bad tennis, and a good amount of money, but I eventually whittled it down and found the culprit. And here's the catch, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. After that, the more tennis I played the faster I recovered.

GE is a bizarre thing. I've broken limbs, pulled muscles and sprained ankles. Those injuries all healed fully and quickly with rest. GE is irrational. I wonder if there isn't a mental aspect to it.

Anyway Oxford, hang in there. It will get better.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Hi,
I suffer from GE for more than a year, i am 43, General Surgeon, playing tennis 3-4 times a week.
nothing i did alleviated it completely, the only thing that enables me continuing playing is an elbow brace which has two pressure cushions on both sides of the elbow.
Unfortunately there are no miracles as far as GE, you will have to learn to live and play with that.

Changed your racquet? Strings/Tension? Went to a good coach to check up on your form?

--------------
FWIW
check my posting here:

Best arm friendly racquets?
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=58089

-------------
Check my signature:

Great fitness sites
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=15571

esp the Elbow and Wrist Pain sections

 

[LuckyR]

I got Golfer’s Elbow from tennis about three months ago. I know how and why and have fixed it. So I have stopped playing, read everything here and on the internet about it, talked with professional coaches and seen my family doctor who plays tennis.

My doc gave me Naproxen anti-inflammatory meds. Did nothing. I do stretches. Nothing. Ice and heat. Nothing. Do curls and massages…nada. I push my palms together in front of my chest to check on the sensitivity every few days and it feels the same as the first day; not extremely painful but I’m not improving. At ALL!!

So what gives? I understand that GE takes longer than Tennis Elbow but this sucks. I am 55 and in great shape and I’m dieing to play again.

The only thing I have not tried is acupuncture or those cortisone injections. I am about ready for that. Hopefully, surgery is not on the list.

After three months I expected SOME friggin improvement.

Thanks for letting me vent. Let me know what you know about all this please. I am frustrated and desperate.

OX

It depends on what you mean by improvement. Remember there is a big difference between injury and pain. There is a time when a person can be injury free and yet have pain. You are shooting for being injury free, in that scenario you can safely add back tennis playing and not incur further injury, although you may have to play through pain. It can be a bit tricky to determine where you are in injury improvement when you still have symptoms, although such self assessments can and have been done successfully. Proceed with caution but you are not necessarily destined for never playing tennis again.

 

[zacinnc78]

And here's the catch, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. After that, the more tennis I played the faster I recovered.

and what was it?

 

[dpfrazier]

I had a bad case of GE (I couldn't lift anything, let alone swing a racquet) two years ago, and went through the following to get rid of it:

1. ART (active release therapy), which is basically deep tissue massage of the forearm.
2. Ultrasound, as part of the physical therapy.
3. Forearm exercises - weighted wrist rotations with a Wrist Reinforcer (basically, a single-ended dumbbell) as others have mentioned, and heavy gripper work.

I think the key for me was the grippers. Not the weak plastic ones, but the heavy duty steel/aluminum models from Ironmind and Beef Builder.

FYI, I had a flare-up of GE about a month ago. I'm back at the grippers again, and the GE is getting better again...

 

[omegaboy]

Also been managing GE for over 6mths; getting better thru physio, wrist weights (palm down); streching; massage and advils pre & post playing (helps manage pain & potential inflamation); physio therapist explained that since there is little blood circulation in that area, recovery would take time.

 

[Blade0324]

As with many here I also have had to deal with GE. I'm early 30's and last year at the beginning of the summer is was getting to the point where I almost couldn't play. I did get a couple of evaluations of my game to see if it was something in my technique. What ended up being was I was allowing my elbow to get a little too wide on the up swing of my serve and not coming over the top enough. kind of like a quarterback throwing or a pitcher pitching with the arm too wide. It puts excess strain on the elbow joint. So I got that fixed but still had to get rid of the pain. What worked for me was much Ibuprofin. I was taking 800mg at a time 4 times a day. Did this for about 3 weeks and at that point was able to just take some IB before and after playing. I'm now pain free and not looking back.

 

[Robbnc]

Forget all the other horsesh*t.

Remember these two terms guys PROLOTHERAPY or PLATELET RICH PLASMA
therapy. Either one of these will fix your problems. Seek out a doc who does
these procedures, they are not hard to find. Opt for the PRP if your insurance
will cover it (otherwise its quite expensive).

 

[danielpreston]

Hi Oxford, I'm back on court. It took me 4.5 months. Hang in there!