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Amateurs Beware
Alan L. Hammond, GolfersMD News
Sep 15, 2011
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The golf swing is an amazing action.
Virtually any person can create a force necessary to produce an impact virtually unrivaled in any other sport. It is precisely because of the golf swing motion, force and speed that golf injuries occur. According to a report in the journal Chiropractic and Osteopathy, elbow injuries account for 25 to 33% of all golfers elbow injuries in amateur golfers.
Epicondylitis, or Golfer’s Elbow, is one of the most recognizable and common golf-related elbow injuries. According to researchers, studies provide that such medial elbow injuries are thought to result from impact-based insults to the elbow, usually to the trailing arm, which is the right elbow in the right-handed golfer. It is the wrist/hand flexors and forearm pronators (mechanisms for rotation) that are injured at their insertion into the medial epicondyle. These injuries are usually of a traumatic nature and occur at the time of impact. The mechanism for injury is a sudden deceleration of the club head, leading to an increased loading of the medial elbow. The sudden club head speed reduction can be due to hitting hidden rocks, tree roots and other objects.
For professionals, Golfer’s Elbow is generally caused by hitting repeatedly out of long and thick rough. In the amateur golfer the injury is much more common and usually caused by hitting a “fat” shot.
Signs of medial epicondylitis include pain and tenderness to palpation of the medial epicondyle, the “funny bone” on the inside of the elbow. Pain is often aggravated by resisted forearm flexion and forearm pronation. There may be trigger point referral along the radial border of the forearm into the hand.
Even though the elbow is a common injury site in golfers, most of the elbow injury research, mechanisms, and management plans have been based on racquet-sports related injuries. Research focusing on the mechanics of the elbow and related musculature would allow for the accurate causes and origins of golf-related elbow injuries to be determined. Understanding how these injuries occur in golfers would ensure the development of appropriate management strategies targeting golf-specific injury mechanisms.
Source: “Golf and upper limb injuries: a summary and review of the literature,” Andrew J. McHardy and Henry P. Pollard. Chiropractic & Osteopathy, Vol. 13, May 25, 2005.
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