The Elbow and the Golf Swing: Why things go wrong
by: Dr. Vince Gomez
Photos By: Rikky Arquiza

Of all the parts of the golfer’s body, the elbow is the most common site for tendinitis. It has baffled golfers for ryears that they can be playing so well one day and suddenly develop elbow pain that makes it impossible to even pick up a club, let alone swing. If you have this problem, then understanding what tendinitis is, and how your game will be affected by it will be a big help.

Tendons are what connect your muscles to the bone. In the elbow, the two major muscle groups of your forearm connect into generally two large tendon units. On the inside of the elbow is the medial epicondyle, and the tendon connects the flexor muscles that close your fist and bend your wrist. The outside of the elbow, or the lateral epicondyle is the insertion of the extensor tendons, those that stretch out your fingers and cock your wrist up. When you exert a large amount of force with the wrist and forearms, these are transmitted to the tendons around the elbow. If the force is excessive enough to cause the tendons to strain or tear, then you develop pain and swelling around the tendon, thus tendinitis.

You can get tendinitis from sudden trauma to the elbow, such as grounding your club in the swing, or by overuse, meaning, repetitive injury to the elbow after many rounds of playing golf or practicing. It can also be caused by an injury sustained from another activity like playing badminton, lifting weights improperly or even carrying a heavy bag. We know that the modern golf swing is more aggressive and, in the case of short irons, encourages a downward strike, also carrying a bit of turf after the ball is struck, which causes greater stress on the muscle-tendon unit of the elbow. Recent studies have identified some points in the golf swing where the problems may be created.

Backswing
If the take-away is one-piece, there is very little stress on the elbow. If the club is lifted as in a chicken wing or flying elbow takeaway, there is more loading on the elbow and this can cause lateral tendinitis of the right elbow.

Transition or Top of the Swing
At the top of the swing, the club is moving back slowly and it is shifted to accelerate forward rapidly. In the right side, this puts force on the medial tendons. If the golfer casts the club or hits over the top, then he can develop classical “golfer’s elbowâ€