Golfer's elbow — clinically called medial epicondylalgia — is the mirror image of tennis elbow. Instead of hurting on the outer bony point, the pain sits on the inner side of your elbow, where your wrist flexors and pronator muscles all attach. And like tennis elbow, most patients I see with medial epicondylalgia don't play the sport it's named for.
Who actually gets it
Common culprits include heavy gripping work (tradespeople, mechanics, carpenters), overhead lifting (deadlifts, chin-ups, kettlebell work), throwing sports, and repetitive computer use — especially with a poor wrist posture.
How it feels
- Aching or sharp pain on the inside of the elbow
- Tenderness right at the bony medial epicondyle
- Pain with resisted wrist flexion or gripping
- Sometimes weakness or tingling into the ring and little fingers if the ulnar nerve is involved nearby
Why it doesn't resolve on its own
Like other tendinopathies, medial epicondylalgia is a degenerative — not inflammatory — process. Ice, anti-inflammatories, and rest quiet the symptoms briefly but don't remodel the tendon. The tissue needs progressive loading to heal.
How we treat it
Soft tissue work — Graston Technique, ART, and dry needling on the pronator teres and wrist flexors — decompresses the tendon insertion. Shockwave therapy reliably restarts stalled healing in chronic cases. Progressive isometric and eccentric loading of the wrist flexors is the piece that makes recovery durable. We also screen the shoulder and cervical spine, since restricted overhead mechanics commonly drive medial elbow overload.
What you can do this week
- Isometric wrist flexion holds — 30-45 seconds, 3-5 reps daily
- Modify grip-heavy activities (thicker handles, lighter loads, more rest)
- Screen your deadlift and pull-up grip if you lift — a mixed grip or overuse of hook grip is a frequent trigger
Caught early, most cases resolve in 6-10 weeks. Chronic ones need 3-6 months of consistent loading and hands-on care. Get assessed sooner rather than later — the longer a tendinopathy simmers, the longer it takes to rebuild.