elbow bursitis from golfers elbow

[tyorke1]

Anyone play while they had this, I have rested it for 11 days now and treated it heavy. Hit 4 wedges 40 yrds today and can still feel it. I don't care about the pain just wondering if it will damage anything. Physio being very careful and slow understandably but it is Sept and time is winding down. 

[sunbeltgolfer]

Bursitis left untreated can cause damage to the tendon. Many years back after an elbow injury I ignored it with occasional treatment of anti inflammatory meds until I was unable to pick up a small milk carton. Surgery was eventually the only way to get rid of it and required a lengthy recovery that was not pleasant. Good luck to you in your recovery.

[BirdieDoc]

Any bursitis has a potential to cause so much inflammation that the tendon weakens and actually frays.  As the poster stated above this likely results in surgery to remove the fibrotic and chronically inflamed tendons that's usually associated with the bursa. Other options do exist now with PRP, prolotherapy, tenex, eccentric exercises, and bracing. Your best bet is to shut it down for 4 to 6 weeks from injury, do the exercises given to you by the physio, and use analgesics/ice as needed. Don't forget about "non-traditional " medicine like cupping, massage, acupuncture, etc. The worst thing that could happen to you at this point is you overuse it through the injury and instead of it being an acute bursitis / tenonopathy it becomes something chronic where you need to dedicate more time to recovery.

[Noodler]

Back a few years ago when I had to deal with both golfer's elbow and tennis elbow (both from playing golf) I got myself a TheraBand FlexBar and learned the correct therapy exercises to use the FlexBar to both alleviate the pain and strengthen my elbows to avoid it in the future.  I still use it at the early part of the season as a preventative measure, but I honestly believe that the reason for the occurrence of this injury is due to a swing fault I used to have that put undue stress on my elbows.  Luckily I no longer deal with this pain.  It was not fun...

[llewol007]

nsaids r going to be your go to. Icing it down can only do so much. Switching to graphite shafts will also help keep the effects down a bit. Keep from action that is causing it. I felt this when I had a set of golf clubs that were too heavy and x stiff on top of it. Try recoil shafts or even the steelfibers. Makes a world of difference. 

[NewToGolf19]

I recently saw an orthopedist for the same issue. He said to use the flexbar exercises. He explained in detail why ice, NSAIDs and resting it wouldn’t help, and that I could continue to do activities that cause discomfort. It seemed counterintuitive, but he also seemed well trained and knowledgeable. I am thinking about a second opinion to make sure continued use won’t hurt it further. Anyone else with a similar experience? Also, anyone switch to graphite shafts with success? 

[bladehunter]

53 minutes ago, NewToGolf19 said:

I recently saw an orthopedist for the same issue. He said to use the flexbar exercises. He explained in detail why ice, NSAIDs and resting it wouldn’t help, and that I could continue to do activities that cause discomfort. It seemed counterintuitive, but he also seemed well trained and knowledgeable. I am thinking about a second opinion to make sure continued use won’t hurt it further. Anyone else with a similar experience? Also, anyone switch to graphite shafts with success? 

I’m 9 weeks or so out of extreme pain from this ( golfers elbow ) and theraband plus other stretches and ice daily is my prescribed course of action.  It still is tight every morning. But I do the stretching 3-4 times a day and before any swings and so far it’s still getting better. I’m around 95 % now.  Tried graphite and honestly didn’t help past the first two weeks.  When it was extreme it seemed to make a difference. But now , it makes none.  In fact I’d say less bounce on my old irons feels better than a modern set with graphite.  But that’s a personal thing.  
 

point is my doc said “ use it or loose it “.  And so far he’s right.  When I rest it 3/4 days straight it takes an hour or two to get it loose enough to swing full.  If I hit balls daily like normal it’s a much quicker process. 

Edited November 18, 2020 by bladehunter

[Noodler]

59 minutes ago, NewToGolf19 said:

I recently saw an orthopedist for the same issue. He said to use the flexbar exercises. He explained in detail why ice, NSAIDs and resting it wouldn’t help, and that I could continue to do activities that cause discomfort. It seemed counterintuitive, but he also seemed well trained and knowledgeable. I am thinking about a second opinion to make sure continued use won’t hurt it further. Anyone else with a similar experience? Also, anyone switch to graphite shafts with success? 

 

I continued to play through the pain, but all the while using the Theraband Flexbar exercises.  Those were the key to eliminating all of the pain and they are one of the most important parts of my pre-season routine to proactively avoid the problem over the past 2 golf seasons.

[golfarb1]

1. Rest - no golf in the acute stage 

2. Stretch-extensors and flexors

3. Flexbar- start with red , then move up to green

4. Strengthen via light dumbbell exercises 

5. Brace -“ Bandit” 

6.Lightly massage the area once you are past the acute stage

7. Ice-after the acute stage. The attitude among medical professionals has changed against the efficacy of icing. 

8. NEVER hit off of MATS

9.Think about changing to graphite shafts in irons

 

[llewol007]

Good luck, I’m still dealing with it today. Once that tendon is fatigued it will take a lot of downtime to get it to feeling less injured. The direct cause for me was playing heavier stiffer shafts. Now i stay away and play graphite type shafts. Hope you find some relief

[Noodler]

And I didn't do much of what either of the previous couple posts stated.

 

I took enough pain meds so that I could do the Flexbar exercises (I only ever use the green bar).  I did those religiously every day (twice a day).  It took about 6 weeks the first time around, but then I was able to hit again with very little pain.  Note that I literally didn't swing a club for 6 months and the pain immediately came back at the beginning of the new season.  So I don't think any amount of rest actually solves the problem if you ever want to play golf again.  The key is to use the Flexbar exercises to strengthen the tendons.  I now swing steel shafted clubs and hit off mats almost every day.  No issues at all.

[Socrates]

Going through Golfer's Elbow right now.  Started in June and I kept it in check for a few months.  Decided to get some physio on it before it became chronic or bursitis.  Even without golf, it has become worse.  Not really sure if standard physio is working and giving it and massage a couple more weeks before I have a scheduled cortisone shot.  Not sold on the "ice it" strategy.  Heat seems to be more logical in getting blood to the area to heal the injury now.  I will ice it after a massage session though because he really beats it up. 

 

I will agree with @bladehunter about use it or lose it.  Other than a few swings at the beginning of a round, it never really bothered me golfing (I used a golfer's elbow band).   It's a moot point right now as we are in Covid lockdown around here and there is nowhere to even hit balls if I wanted to.

[YMark]

I'm going through this now myself. I agree that the TheraBand FlexBar helps a lot. Also agree with the use it. I stayed away from golf for 3 weeks and it hurt more the next time I played than it did when I began the rest period.  I use stretching and some dumbbell exercises a few times a week now and it seems to be slowly recovering. But it's been about 3 months.

 

I also switched to graphite shafts in my irons and wear a golfer's elbow band when I play and practice.

[jsn]

Lots of good info here: http://drjuliansaunders.com/dodgy-elbows/

 

I've had both tennis and golfers elbow at times and the therabar *usually* works great. I got golfers elbow again this year and it did not respond at all to the flexbar which left me confused and struggling to find a fix.

Found that website and learned there are multiple ways you can incur golfers elbow, the first exercise with the dumbbell is the same as what you get from a flexbar (although I have found if you have golfers elbow in *both* elbows then the flexbar will often irritate more than help and prefer the dumbbell version). The second exercise in that link of rotating the forearm with a weight on the far end was a godsend for me. I started to feel better within a day or two of starting it. I'd recommend trying all 3 in the link and see if you respond better to one or another. I ended up just making a routine of doing them all every night for a couple weeks (and cut out range time, I only played during that time frame) and I'm now pain free.

[KMeloney]

22 hours ago, NewToGolf19 said:

Also, anyone switch to graphite shafts with success? 

 

Yes. Many, many people here. Check out the Golfer's Elbow threads.

[Socrates]

One thing that helped keeping me playing through this, was that I had previously changed my swing to being more of a picker than digger.  Every once in a while I would stick one into the ground to play a shot and I felt it immediately.  If I was still a big divot taker I would've had to shut it down in July rather than make it to winter before nature shut me down.

 

Now where did I put my Thera-band yesterday?

[gators78]

37 minutes ago, Socrates said:

One thing that helped keeping me playing through this, was that I had previously changed my swing to being more of a picker than digger.  Every once in a while I would stick one into the ground to play a shot and I felt it immediately.  If I was still a big divot taker I would've had to shut it down in July rather than make it to winter before nature shut me down.

 

Now where did I put my Thera-band yesterday?

 

Totally agree here. I got a lesson a few years ago, the pro had a Trackman and I was doing the combine session, totally unprompted he asked if I had elbow trouble. Uh yes, and how the heck did you know that...he said well you're 9* down with a 6 iron, so let's fix your swing, and your elbows. 

[Socrates]

So I had a cortisone shot a week ago.  My goodness my elbow was sore for about 3 days.*  Any way, after about 3 days I could sense that my elbow was better.  6 days out, I have no pain in the elbow or the epicondyle area.  It's going to be quite a while before I can hit a ball due to Covid lockdowns, but I'm optimistic that this is behind me.  Time for me to do some of the exercises to keep this from coming back.

 

*My sister (who was surgical nurse) had one a few years ago and she had zero pain afterwards and her elbow problems were gone too.  She thinks that some of the cortisone leaked out of the tendon into the joint causing the pain. 

[pktaske]

On 12/15/2020 at 11:11 PM, Socrates said:

So I had a cortisone shot a week ago.  My goodness my elbow was sore for about 3 days.*  Any way, after about 3 days I could sense that my elbow was better.  6 days out, I have no pain in the elbow or the epicondyle area.  It's going to be quite a while before I can hit a ball due to Covid lockdowns, but I'm optimistic that this is behind me.  Time for me to do some of the exercises to keep this from coming back.

 

*My sister (who was surgical nurse) had one a few years ago and she had zero pain afterwards and her elbow problems were gone too.  She thinks that some of the cortisone leaked out of the tendon into the joint causing the pain. 

I thought cortisone is only temporary?

[Socrates]

3 hours ago, pktaske said:

I thought cortisone is only temporary?

Cortisone is used to fight the inflammation.  In a lot of cases that is the hardest thing to get rid of.  If you can avoid doing the same thing that lead to the inflammation, you are likely not to redevelop it.  FWIW,  I'm about 2 months from the injection and the golfers elbow is gone.  Still 3 weeks away from hitting balls as all indoor ranges are Covid Closed.   I am however dealing with some nerve damage that I believe was caused by over enthusiastic PT.  Slowly getting better, but still a concern.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Socrates

[cardoustie]

Flexbars and graphite shafts ... I could write a country song

[pktaske]

On 1/24/2021 at 5:39 PM, cardoustie said:

Flexbars and graphite shafts ... I could write a country song

What's the downside of graphite? I never liked the look of them. I swing steel 95g reg Rsi1s and 130g modus stiff 2019 Apex combo. They both feel the same to me so I'm no connesueier of clubs. My tennis elbow was caused I think by too much time at the range over a span of 3 weeks.

[pingfool]

On 9/4/2020 at 10:01 AM, Noodler said:

Back a few years ago when I had to deal with both golfer's elbow and tennis elbow (both from playing golf) I got myself a TheraBand FlexBar and learned the correct therapy exercises to use the FlexBar to both alleviate the pain and strengthen my elbows to avoid it in the future.  I still use it at the early part of the season as a preventative measure, but I honestly believe that the reason for the occurrence of this injury is due to a swing fault I used to have that put undue stress on my elbows.  Luckily I no longer deal with this pain.  It was not fun...

May I ask your theory on swing flaw contributing to elbow tenderness

i had been pain free for several years. Until a recent flare up. I have made a swing path change in takeaway 

 

[CDLgolf]

In my experience once I changed to graphite shafts in my irons all the pain went away. Several good ideas posted above but if all else fails give it a try.

[Socrates]

14 hours ago, pingfool said:

May I ask your theory on swing flaw contributing to elbow tenderness

i had been pain free for several years. Until a recent flare up. I have made a swing path change in takeaway 

 

For me, I aggravated my elbow trying a slightly longer shaft in my driver.  I got off plane on a number of swings and I could feel it in the elbow immediately on each bad swing.  Too stupid to stop after the 1st bad one.  I needed to make sure I F***ed it up real good.  Lesson learned.