Tennis Elbow’s Twin on the Inner Side, and Why Grip Is the Real Culprit
Golfer’s elbow is pain on the INNER bony point of your elbow. And just like its more famous twin, most people who have it have never swung a golf club.
It’s an overload of the tendons that anchor your gripping and wrist-bending muscles to that inner point. Gym-goers doing pull-ups and rows. Climbers. Manual workers. Parents carrying an ever-growing toddler…on repeat.
Heck…even I developed golfer’s elbow cos I was on my knees digging up sand at the beach for my kid’s beach hole….and the way I scooped it up with my right hand loaded the inner part of my right elbow and I too…got golfer’s elbow. Digging holes at the beach ha.
Same family as tennis elbow, same rules: it’s degeneration more than inflammation, rest alone rarely fixes it, and the honest timeline is months, not weeks.
What’s actually happening in there
The muscles that close your fist and bend your wrist forward nearly all start from one bony point on the inner elbow.
One anchor, many muscles, firing with every grip, every carry, every pull.
Overload that anchor faster than it can rebuild…a new training block, a renovation weekend, a season of deadlifts with a grip that’s working harder than the back…and the tendon tissue starts becoming disorganised and weaker at its attachment.
Same as tennis elbow management: NOT a fire to put out. Also a structure to rebuild.
How you know it’s golfer’s elbow
Pain pinpointed at the inner bony bump, sometimes running down the inner forearm. Worse with gripping, carrying bags by the handles, pull-ups, opening jars, wrist curls.
One important neighbour to rule out: the ulnar nerve runs in a groove RIGHT behind that same inner bony point.
If your inner elbow pain comes with tingling or numbness in the ring and little fingers…that’s not golfer’s elbow, or not only golfer’s elbow.
That’s cubital tunnel territory, a nerve problem with different treatment.
- Pain alone: tendon.
- Pain plus pins and needles in those two fingers: get the nerve checked.
When it stops being minor
Sore inner elbow after one heavy week, settling in days: normal tendon complaint, ease up and move on. No biggie.
Again…if the pain still there at 2 to 3 weeks, or returning every time you go back to training or work: the tendon is losing the rebuild race, and it will keep losing while the load pattern stays the same.
And golfer’s elbow has a nasty habit worth naming: it tends to be A LOT MORE stubborn than tennis elbow once it’s established. The earlier the proper loading plan starts, the shorter the whole story.
What treatment actually looks like
Graded loading, same principle as tennis elbow: specific strengthening for the wrist flexors and grip, starting light, progressed over weeks as the tendon tolerates more.
Rest stops the damage. Only loading rebuilds the tendon.
Around that core: the load audit. What does this arm grip and carry for hours? Bar thickness, bag handles, tool grips, pull-up volume, carrying technique. Change the pattern that built the problem, or the rehab is bailing a boat with the tap still running.
Injections: even more caution here than tennis elbow, cos the ulnar nerve lives really nearby. Injecting into the nerve is not good. Short-term relief is real, long-term outcomes favour loading. Surgery: rare, last resort, months down the road for the few who fail everything.
What recovery feels like
- Weeks 1 to 4: load management takes the daily sting down. Strengthening starts light…suspiciously light. That’s correct.
- Months 2 to 3: grip strength returns, training resumes in modified form. Don’t celebrate by maxing your deadlift. The tendon is behind your enthusiasm by about 6 weeks, always.
- Months 4 to 12: the long tail, same as tennis elbow. Twinges fading is winning. Twinges growing means the load is outrunning the tendon…adjust, don’t abandon.
The short version
Inner elbow pain with gripping past 3 weeks: golfer’s elbow, and it needs a loading plan, not just rest. Same pain plus ring-and-little-finger tingling: nerve involved, get assessed properly.
Start the right plan at month 1 and it’s a background project by month 4. Start at month 8…and you’ll wish you’d read this earlier.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Tens of thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. This article explains; it doesn’t examine. Inner elbow pain that’s outstayed 3 weeks deserves a proper assessment.
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