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Golfer's Elbow Treatment in Southampton

That sharp ache on the inside of your elbow when you’re lifting, gripping, or twisting. It catches you when you shake hands, when you’re carrying shopping, or when you’re trying to open a jar.
Golfer’s elbow — medically known as medial epicondylalgia — is a tendinopathy affecting the common flexor tendon at the inside of your elbow. Despite the name, more than 90% of cases aren’t related to golf at all. Research published in StatPearls (Kiel & Kaiser, 2023) confirms that golfer’s elbow is far more often caused by labour-intensive jobs with forceful and repetitive movements — plasterers, carpenters, manual workers — or by hobbies like climbing, racquet sports, or weightlifting. The condition involves tendon degeneration rather than inflammation, characterised by collagen disorganisation, neovascularisation, and increased pain-producing nerve fibres. At Southampton Physio, we specialise in evidence-based golfer’s elbow treatment in Southampton, helping people get back to work, sport, and daily activities without the constant ache that makes gripping and lifting difficult.
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Is This What You're Feeling?

Golfer’s elbow typically presents with:
  • Pain on the inside of your elbow that's worse with gripping, lifting, or twisting movements — shaking hands, carrying bags, opening jars, or turning a screwdriver
  • Tenderness when you press the bony lump on the inside of your elbow (the medial epicondyle), sometimes radiating down the inside of your forearm
  • Weakness in your grip — you might drop things or struggle with tasks that used to be easy
  • Stiffness first thing in the morning or after periods of rest, easing slightly as you move but returning with activity
  • Pins and needles or numbness in your ring and little finger — this affects 50% of people with golfer's elbow and indicates ulnar nerve involvement (Differential Diagnosis of Elbow Pain, PMC, 2025)
These symptoms usually build up gradually over weeks or months, rather than appearing suddenly. You may have noticed it starting as a mild niggle that you ignored, which has now become a persistent ache limiting what you can do. Think of tendons as load-bearing cables: when they’re repeatedly overloaded beyond their current capacity, the structure begins to change in ways that produce pain and reduce grip strength.
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Why Is This Happening?

Golfer’s elbow develops when the tendons that attach to the inside of your elbow are repeatedly overloaded beyond their current capacity. Tendons need progressive load to stay strong — too much too soon overloads them; too little and they weaken.

This overload can happen acutely — a sudden increase in activity like a weekend of DIY after months of desk work — but usually it’s a gradual, cumulative process. Your tendons adapt to the loads you regularly place on them. When those loads increase faster than your tendons can adapt, or when repetitive movements don’t allow adequate recovery time, the tendon structure begins to change. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Cook & Purdam, 2009) describes this as a continuum: the tendon becomes disorganised, develops areas of degeneration, and grows new blood vessels and nerve fibres that contribute to pain.

Common scenarios where we see this pattern:

  • Manual workers — plasterers, carpenters, mechanics — whose jobs involve repetitive gripping, lifting, and twisting
  • Climbers and boulderers — particularly those training hard on small holds or campus boards without adequate antagonist work
  • Racquet sport players — the repetitive wrist flexion and pronation during serves and forehands
  • Weightlifters — heavy pulling exercises or sudden increases in training volume
  • Office workers — poor ergonomics, excessive keyboard and mouse use, or weekend DIY projects

Research published in StatPearls (Reece, Li & Susmarski, 2024) confirms that golfer’s elbow occurs in the dominant arm in 75% of cases. It affects about 1% of the general population but accounts for 3.8-8.2% of work-related complaints — highlighting its link to occupational demands (Terlezky et al., 2022, Harefuah).

Importantly, recurring or persistent cases often require looking beyond the elbow itself. If your shoulder isn’t moving well, or if your shoulder blade control is poor, your elbow tendons work harder to compensate. At Southampton Physio, we assess the full kinetic chain — shoulder, scapulothoracic junction, thoracic spine — to identify and address the upstream contributors that may be overloading your elbow.

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How Southampton Physio Treats Golfer's Elbow

The most important part of rehabilitation is load management: reducing provocative loads that repeatedly aggravate the tendon, and progressively loading the tendon to improve its capacity. Manual therapy helps with symptom relief and prepares tissues for loading, but it is not a standalone fix. Exercise is the foundation.

In your first session, we’ll take a detailed history of how your symptoms developed, what makes them better or worse, and what you need to get back to doing. We’ll assess your elbow, but also your shoulder, wrist, and neck to identify any contributing factors. Research published in PMC (2025) shows that in 50% of cases, symptoms of ulnar nerve involvement are present, so we’ll test for this too. We may refer you for ultrasound imaging where appropriate — research published in Healthcare (Czyrny et al., 2022) shows ultrasound has 95% sensitivity and 92% specificity for diagnosing medial epicondylalgia, making it a practical and accessible alternative to MRI.

You’ll leave your first session with a clear explanation of what’s happening, a realistic timeline for recovery, and a plan that fits your work and lifestyle. Most people achieve clinically meaningful improvement within 12 weeks with appropriate conservative management.

Learn more about our physiotherapy approach
We use manual therapy techniques — soft tissue work, joint mobilisation, and targeted massage — to reduce pain, improve tissue mobility, and calm down sensitised areas. Research supports the use of manual therapy combined with exercise for superior outcomes compared to exercise alone for elbow tendinopathies (Bisset et al., 2005, British Journal of Sports Medicine systematic review).
Where appropriate, we may recommend shockwave therapy as a second-line option if you haven’t responded to conservative management. A randomised controlled trial published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine (Moya et al., 2018) found that extracorporeal shockwave therapy produces moderate pain reduction (VAS decrease 2.1-2.8 points) in patients who failed initial treatment, with benefits sustained at 6 months. Shockwave therapy is conditionally recommended by ISMST guidelines for cases that don’t improve with first-line approaches.
We take a cautious view on corticosteroid injections. Research published in JAMA (Coombes et al., 2013) shows that while injections provide superior short-term pain relief (2-6 weeks), they produce inferior long-term outcomes compared to physiotherapy and are associated with higher recurrence rates. Research published in The Lancet (Dean et al., 2014) found that repeated corticosteroid injections are associated with tendon weakening and increased recurrence, and their use is cautioned against in BJSM consensus guidance.

Exercise therapy is the most effective long-term intervention for golfer’s elbow. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Coombes et al., 2015) found that eccentric strengthening produces significant pain reduction (VAS decrease 3.2-4.1 points) and functional improvement at 6-12 weeks, with sustained benefits at 12 months. This is endorsed as a first-line recommendation in general tendinopathy guidelines by the BJSM consensus statement and ICON tendinopathy recommendations.

We design a progressive loading programme tailored to your symptoms, your stage of recovery, and what you need to return to. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Malliaras et al., 2013) confirms that 70-80% of patients achieve clinically meaningful improvement (>30% pain reduction) within 12 weeks with a structured progressive loading programme, with benefits sustained at 6 months follow-up.

For climbers, manual workers, or people with recurring presentations, we integrate full kinetic chain work — strengthening your shoulder, improving scapular control, and addressing movement patterns that overload your elbow. For some people, especially those who’ve tried multiple treatments without lasting results, we offer Clinical Personal Training — a more comprehensive pathway that integrates our full team over 12-16 weeks. This is designed for persistent or complex issues that need a deeper root-cause approach.

What You Can Start Doing Today

While you’re waiting for your assessment, here are three evidence-based actions you can take:
  • Modify your load, don't eliminate it. Identify the specific activities that provoke your symptoms — gripping tools, lifting shopping bags, certain gym exercises — and reduce the intensity, frequency, or duration. Complete rest is contraindicated in modern tendinopathy management. Research published in Sports Medicine (Khan & Cook, 2000) found that prolonged rest and immobilisation are associated with worse long-term outcomes and delayed recovery compared to early progressive loading.
  • Apply ice for short-term pain relief. Apply ice to the inside of your elbow for 10-20 minutes, 2-3 times daily, particularly after aggravating activities. This won't heal the tendon, but it can help manage symptoms while you're building capacity through exercise.
  • Start gentle isometric loading. Sit with your forearm rested on a table, palm up. Make a fist and gently press your wrist down into the table, holding for 30-45 seconds without moving. Repeat 3-4 times. This should produce mild discomfort (3-4 out of 10) but not sharp pain. Isometric loading can provide short-term pain relief and begin the process of tendon adaptation.
These are starting points, not a substitute for a full assessment and tailored treatment plan.
Read more about managing persistent pain
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Why Choose Southampton Physio for Golfer's Elbow?

We specialise in evidence-based treatment for tendinopathies, particularly in climbers, manual workers, and people with persistent or recurrent symptoms.

Our climbing injury clinic has particular expertise in medial elbow pain — climbers’ elbow is a common presentation, and we understand the specific demands of the sport. But our approach works equally well for plasterers, carpenters, racquet sport players, or office workers — anyone whose elbow tendons are overloaded by their work or lifestyle.

We don’t just treat your elbow. We assess your shoulder, your movement patterns, and the loads you’re placing on your body, so we can address the upstream contributors and reduce your risk of recurrence.

"The team at Southampton Physio were great. I went there with a classic case of "Golfers/Climbers" elbow, Ian and the team were able to diagnose, massage, and recommend an exercise plan that didn't interrupt my bouldering hobby, but would get me back on track. Friendly, professional and understanding."
— Christopher Wilkes
"Just go and see this guy - he's whip smart! Ian helped me rehab and eventually fully recover from golfers elbow which had been painful and persistent for around 2 years. I'd been to two other physios that just couldn't pin point the problem."
— Martin Orton
We’re located at 35 Bedford Place in central Southampton, easily accessible from Shirley, Portswood, Eastleigh, and Chandlers Ford. We also have a clinic in Bishops Waltham.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Golfer's Elbow in Southampton

Read our FAQs
Yes. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Coombes et al., 2015) found that exercise therapy produces significant pain reduction and functional improvement at 6-12 weeks, with sustained benefits at 12 months. Physiotherapy is endorsed as a first-line treatment in general tendinopathy guidelines. Manual therapy combined with exercise produces superior outcomes compared to exercise alone.
There is no quick fix. The fastest route to recovery is a structured progressive loading programme tailored to your symptoms, combined with load management to reduce provocative activities. Research shows 70-80% of people achieve meaningful improvement within 12 weeks. Corticosteroid injections provide short-term relief but inferior long-term outcomes compared to physiotherapy, and may delay tendon healing (Coombes et al., 2013, JAMA).
Most people see clinically meaningful improvement within 12 weeks of appropriate conservative management. Natural history studies — including Smidt et al. (2006), published in the BMJ — suggest that approximately 89% of cases resolve within 12 months with conservative treatment, though most of this data comes from lateral epicondylalgia research and outcomes for medial are broadly similar. Timelines vary depending on severity, how long you’ve had symptoms, and your adherence to load management and exercise.
Avoid exercises that produce sharp, intense pain (above 5 out of 10) or pain that persists for more than 24 hours after activity. This typically includes heavy pulling exercises (pull-ups, rows), gripping-intensive movements (deadlifts, farmer’s carries), and wrist flexion under load. Modify rather than eliminate — reduce weight, reduce volume, or use alternative grips. Complete rest is contraindicated.
Yes. Research shows that 70-80% of people achieve clinically meaningful improvement with appropriate conservative management, and approximately 89% of cases resolve within 12 months. Surgical intervention should be considered only after 3-6 months of failed conservative management (Differential Diagnosis of Elbow Pain, PMC, 2025). The key is addressing load management and progressively rebuilding tendon capacity through exercise.
Golfer’s elbow is triggered by repetitive overload of the flexor tendons at the inside of the elbow. This can be acute (a sudden increase in activity like a weekend of DIY) or cumulative (repetitive gripping, lifting, and twisting over weeks or months without adequate recovery). Common triggers include manual labour, climbing, racquet sports, weightlifting, and poor ergonomics in office workers.
Most people achieve meaningful improvement within 12 weeks, with sustained benefits at 6 months. If symptoms haven’t improved after 6-12 weeks of appropriate conservative management, this may indicate the need for a more comprehensive assessment, including upstream contributors like shoulder or scapular dysfunction.
Usually not. Golfer’s elbow is a clinical diagnosis based on your symptoms, history, and physical examination. Ultrasound imaging has 95% sensitivity and 92% specificity for diagnosing medial epicondylalgia (Czyrny et al., 2022, Healthcare) and can be useful if diagnosis is unclear or if we suspect other pathology. MRI is rarely needed unless surgery is being considered.
You should seek urgent medical attention if you experience acute traumatic elbow injury with deformity, inability to extend your elbow, or rapidly progressive neurological deficit (weakness, numbness in your ring and little finger). See your GP if symptoms haven’t improved after 6-12 weeks of appropriate conservative management, or if you have signs of infection (hot, swollen, red elbow with fever).
No. Golfer’s elbow affects the inside (medial) of the elbow and involves the flexor tendons. Tennis elbow affects the outside (lateral) of the elbow and involves the extensor tendons. Both are tendinopathies with similar underlying mechanisms, but they affect different tendons and require slightly different treatment approaches.

Ready to Get Moving Again?

If golfer’s elbow is limiting your work, your sport, or your daily activities, we can help. Most people see meaningful improvement within 12 weeks with the right approach — evidence-based manual therapy, progressive exercise, and a clear plan to address the root cause.

You don’t need to put up with persistent elbow pain that makes gripping, lifting, and carrying difficult. Book your golfer’s elbow assessment today and let’s get you back to what you need to do.

Call us on 023 8110 2077 or book online below.
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