Golfer’s elbow can be a highly frustrating injury. If it lingers, it might not only keep you off the turf but also inhibit you from basic tasks, like picking up a glass of milk or brushing your teeth. If you’ve been diagnosed with this painful condition, one of your first questions will likely be about the duration of golfer’s elbow.
As with any tendon injury, the healing timeline for golfer’s elbow depends on the severity of your injury, how well you rest it, and other factors. Below, Exchange Physical Therapy Group, Jersey City’s leading injury rehabilitation clinic, discusses the timeframe for golfer’s elbow recovery plus tips for speeding things up.
Understanding Golfer’s Elbow: Symptoms, Healing Times, and Treatments
Your elbows bend, twist, and flex a lot throughout the day so that you can comfortably complete various tasks. While they’re popular, certain sports like golf, bowling, baseball, weight lifting, and archery put a lot of extra strain on your elbows through repetitive twisting or flexing movements.
Technically, golfer’s elbow is a form of tendonitis. The tendons on the inside of your elbow and forearms tear, causing inflammation, pain, and stiffness. The tendons in this area connect your muscles to the bones to allow for easy elbow movements, so any injury that causes them to tear and become inflamed inhibits this function.
Common Golfer’s Elbow Symptoms
Your Golfer’s elbow symptoms can take a couple of weeks to begin developing. First, you may notice pain on the inside of your elbow upon waking up. It might also extend down to your wrist.
However, as things develop, worsening symptoms of golfer’s elbow may include:
- Increased pain when making a fist or flexing the wrist
- Poor grip strength
- Numbness in the fingers up to the forearm
- Tingling sensations in the arms or hands
- Overall tenderness on the inside of the elbow and forearm
Notably, if you have severe swelling, noticeable elbow deformities, a fever, or an inability to move your elbow, seek urgent medical attention.
The Typical Duration of Golfer’s Elbow
So, how long does golfer’s elbow last? Typically, your golfer’s elbow recovery time will range anywhere from a few weeks to six months, depending on the severity of your condition. Some tears heal on their own with at-home resting methods, but more severe injuries may need surgery, especially where your symptoms persist beyond the six-month mark.
The duration of golfer’s elbow will also depend on how well you follow the treatment protocols. You’ll have a much better golfer’s elbow prognosis if you rest the joint and follow your doctor’s recommendations. Don’t fight through the pain!
Top Treatment Tips To Help Golfer’s Elbow
Here are some tips for speeding up the duration of symptoms for golfer’s elbow:
- Rest: Resting alleviates pain and helps the elbow joint heal. Avoid strenuous activities, and immobilize the joint as much as possible until the pain and inflammation subside.
- Ice: Icing reduces inflammation and pain during the elbow injury’s first few days. Apply ice in 20-minute increments, if possible.
- Take anti-inflammatories: Oral medications or patches and creams can help with the elbow’s swelling and pain.
- Use an arm brace, tape, or splinting: Do you need to use your arm throughout the day? Keep it stabilized. Consider a brace, splint, or tape setup.
Physical therapy and stretching exercises also do wonders for the injured joint’s restoration. It helps with strength, flexibility, and mobility. Your physical therapist will likely guide you through various techniques for increasing blood flow to the elbow, relaxing the muscles, and rebuilding your range of motion as you heal.
Speed Up Healing With Physical Therapy
So, how long does golfer’s elbow last? These injuries tend to stick around for a few weeks but the tear’s severity and how well you take care of it matter greatly in that equation. Exchange Physical Therapy Group’s physical therapy for ankle injuries, golfer’s elbow, and much more is a great start, so contact us today to schedule an appointment and kick off your recovery!
