Pain on the outside or inside of the elbow when gripping — and usually nothing to do with tennis or golf.
What it typically feels like
Pain on the outside of the elbow when gripping or lifting
A weak grip, dropping things like a kettle or mug
Pain on shaking hands or turning a doorknob
Tenderness on a specific bony point at the elbow
Most people with tennis elbow have never played tennis. It is a tendon problem
at the elbow caused by repeated gripping and wrist work — so it turns up in
tradespeople, lifters, climbers, hairdressers and anyone who has spent a
weekend with a screwdriver.
Tennis elbow is on the outside of the elbow. Golfer’s elbow is the same
problem on the inside. The treatment principles are the same.
What usually causes it
The tendon is loaded more than it can currently tolerate — repeatedly, over
weeks. A new job, a new grip, a new training block, a house move. The forearm
muscles tighten, the tendon at their attachment gets irritated, and gripping
starts to hurt.
It is usually a load problem rather than an injury. Nothing tore.
What treatment involves
Soft tissue work through the forearm to release the muscles pulling on the
tendon, plus specific work at the attachment itself. Trigger points in the
forearm extensors often refer pain straight into the elbow and are frequently
the reason it has not settled.
The important part is load management. Tendons respond to graded loading, not
to rest alone — total rest tends to leave a tendon that hurts again the moment
you use it. That means a progressive strengthening plan, and adjusting what
provoked it.
How long it takes
Longer than people want to hear. Tendons are slow tissue — often several weeks
to a few months. It responds well, but it responds gradually, and stopping the
exercises once it feels better is the most common reason it comes back.
What is actually in the elbow & forearm
A simple hinge with a complication: nearly every muscle that moves the wrist and fingers anchors onto two small bony points at the elbow, so the elbow gets the pain from work the hand is doing.
Common extensor origin
The bony point on the outside of the elbow where the wrist extensors attach. Tennis elbow lives here, and it is a gripping problem far more often than a racket problem.
Common flexor origin
The matching point on the inside where the wrist flexors attach. Golfer’s elbow, and equally unrelated to golf in most people who get it.
Forearm extensors and flexors
Long muscle bellies running from the elbow to the wrist and fingers. Every grip loads them, and the strain concentrates where they narrow into tendon at the elbow.
Why it goes wrong
The pain is at the elbow, the problem is usually somewhere along the forearm or in how much gripping the hand is being asked to do. Treating only the tender point at the bone rarely settles it, because nothing has changed about the load arriving there. Both conditions are stubborn, and both respond far better to loading the tendon than to resting it completely.
This page describes what is common, not what you have. The only way
to know is to have it assessed — and your first session includes a
full assessment, so you leave knowing what is actually going on.