Elbow Pain

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I've been working diligently for the last month on a flat left wrist and bend right wrist through impact with some good success. The problem is I have developed significant discomfort in the outer portion of my right elbow. It is especially uncomfortable at the point of full right arm extension while the right wrist remains bent. From what information I have gathered so far, this seems to be similar to "tennis elbow" as opposed to "golfers elbow" which affects the inner aspect of the elbow. The discomfort started even when I was doing drills with dowels and hadn't even hit any balls yet. Now that I have started to hit balls, it's gotten considerably worse.

Is this something that is common to starting out with this or do you think I might be doing something wrong? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. BTW I realize hitting off of mats may be exacerbating it but I have hit off of mats for over 20 years without ever having this problem before.

Thanks,

Marty
 

Erik_K

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Something is amiss here. You shouldn't be hurting yourself while doing drills (especially ones without any golf balls).

What dowel drills are you doing? If you are merely placing your hands on the dowels and rehearsing setup and downstroke waggle, etc-I don't see how you are imparting undo stress on your joints.

Tennis elbow comes from the inflammation of the wrist extensors. If you've been doing TONS of dowel drills (repeatedly bending and unbending the wrist) it's possible that you've inflamed something.

I got the above info here: http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/tenniselbow.html

Perhaps Brian or Tongzilla can chime in and add their thoughts, but unless you are float loading, shouldn't the amount of right wrist bend (initially established at address) not change? At the orlando school, Tom Bartlett told me that we want to retain the right wrist bend, but straighten the right arm. Thus, if you are doing that, the right wrist shouldn't move a whole lot.

Perhaps when doing these drills you are excessively bending back the right wrist and trying to retain that bend throughout the swing. I don't think you should feel a lot of tension in your forearms.
 
the problem is coming from the grip along with the extension of the right wrist. Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) is a microscopic disruption of the extensor muscle origin which results in pain and discomfort in the outside of the elbow.
When you grip the club or dowel in the right hand you cause the extensor muscle to flex and then comes the pain. Ice and rest along with anti inflamatory drugs like advil. there are some specific stretches and exercises to help the problem but you need to get the swelling down first.
 
Originally posted by Erik_K

Perhaps when doing these drills you are excessively bending back the right wrist and trying to retain that bend throughout the swing.

This is quite possible. I had the tendency for the right elbow to fly and my right wrist would straighten at the top I then had to re-align on the way down. I've been consciously trying to maintain that bend in the right wrist which also keeps my right elbow from flying. From my understanding, which at this point is still basic, I may be float loading and putting additional strain on the joints.
 
"Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. BTW I realize hitting off of mats may be exacerbating it but I have hit off of mats for over 20 years without ever having this problem before."

Now that you are delivering a TGM heavy 3 dimensional strike into the hard mat. Guess what? Elbow and shoulder problems.

Easy to heal - do not ignore the pain.
http://www.triggerpointbook.com/examples.htm and
http://www.mypressureproducts.com/pain_reference_chart.htm

Consider replacing the mat with one that is designed to absorb shock.
 

Burner

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Martyk22,

Have a look at the last paragraph of 7.19, page 108 of edition 6, and see if this has a bearing on your problem.

It is what Birdie is alluding to.
 
OK, I've read that section and have looked over numerous other discussions about right hand swinging and clearly this IS what I'm doing. So now what, should I abandon this motion? That would be a pitty as I was hitting very nicely using this motion. If I was to abandon it what direction should I from here?
quote:Originally posted by Burner

Martyk22,

Have a look at the last paragraph of 7.19, page 108 of edition 6, and see if this has a bearing on your problem.

It is what Birdie is alluding to.
 
Marty (by the way I'm Marty also) you need to rest the elbow, depending on how long it has been hurting you may need to lay off for a month. What you have is an RSI (repeative stress injury) as long as you keep swinging a golf club your elbow will continue to bother you. I'm a physical therapist by trade and chronic suffer of tennis elbow because I never let hit heal properly in the first place. You can try a brace (air cast) is the best brand imo, it is not a cure but allows me to hit balls without much discomfort. Then ice on the elbow for 20 min. after every range session and round of golf. Hope this helps.
 
I have suffered from this same elbow conditon in the past, on two separate occassions. I tried every therapy known, the last episode lasted six months. I finally cured it by applying tiny magnets with tape to the site of the pain and kept them on for about a week. The second day the pain started to go away, the third day totally gone. You keep the magnets there 24/7!

Flipping the right wrist contributes to this problem for some folks. The key to keeping the right wrist bend is to uncock down with right arm and left wrist - not sideways in the direction of of the ball or target. And stop hitting off of mats, they can ruin you for life once you get this problem with elbow pain.
 
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