Golfer’s Elbow Chiropractic Care

The medical term for Golfer’s elbow is medial epicondylitis. Golfer’s elbow is pain along the inside portion of the elbow and forearm. This can range from mild soreness with activity to constant pain with tingling and numbness into the hand. Golfer’s elbow is usually caused by overusing the muscles in your forearm, which lets you grip, rotate your arm, and flex your wrist. Repetitive flexing, gripping, or swinging can cause pulls or tiny tears in the tendons. I see an uptick in these injuries at the office over the summer months as a lot of my patients like to play golf, tennis, and paddleboard.  We offer several treatment options for these conditions at our office.

With any soft tissue injury, it will always respond well to the RICE method, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Icing 2-3 times per day for 15-20 minutes is usually enough to knock this one out, as this injury is usually self-limiting. As always, avoiding the cause of pain, ie not playing golf, tennis for a short while is recommended.

Another treatment we provide is cold laser. Out office uses a MR4 class 4 laser. Laser helps reduce pain and inflammation in soft tissue injuries. It also increases blood circulation helping to promote a healing environment. There is also research showing a beneficial effect to collagen.

As chiropractors we also like to look to the joints for treatment. We adjust extremities in our office, including elbows. Adjusting the elbow can increase joint mobility to increase range of motion and decrease pain.