Fit for Play
3 Ways to Prevent and Heal Golfer’ s Elbow by DAVE POND
TENNIS ELBOW
GOLFERS ELBOW
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR MOUNT
THE CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF ROUND after round can lead to both physical, and emotional(“ another bogey?”), pain.
“ Benjamin Franklin said,‘ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’” said Glenn Pfluger, a TPI-certified golf and fitness expert and the president of Powhatan’ s GP Performance and Research Center.
Take, for example, golfer’ s elbow— the little-known cousin of tennis elbow. In spite of a few locality-based similarities, the two injuries are actually quite different.
“ Although the terms are normally used synonymously, they affect different regions of the elbow,” Pfluger said.“ If you look at your elbow with your palm facing toward you, golfer’ s elbow affects the medial epicondyle, causing pain and inflammation to the elbow joint from the tendon, or tendonitis.
“ The other side of the elbow— on the outside( lateral) side— is where tennis elbow occurs.”
For those who golf and play tennis, Pfluger offers this tip to help you remember which side of your elbow is medial, and which side is lateral: the medial side of your elbow is bald like a golf ball, while the lateral side has hair on it, like the fuzz on a tennis ball.
“ If you have golfer’ s elbow, it means there’ s increased stress on the tendon due to a muscle imbalance between the wrist and elbow,” he said.“ Icing and anti-inflammatory medicine can help in the short term, but to help long-term, you’ ll need to do three things: massage, stretch and strengthen.”
STRETCH
These two exercises work together to lengthen the wrist and forearm muscles that support your swing.
WRIST EXTENSION: 1. Hold your left fingers with your right hand. 2. Using your right hand, slowly stretch the fingertips on your left hand down toward your palm, until you feel a small stretch. 3. While holding the stretch, extend your left arm until straight. 4. Hold the extended position for 30 seconds, then switch hands.
FLEXION STRETCH: 1. Hold your right fingers with your left hand. 2. Using your left hand, slowly stretch the fingertips on your right hand back toward your right elbow until you feel a small stretch. 3. While holding the stretch, extend your right arm until straight. 4. Hold the extended position for 30 seconds, then switch hands.
STRENGTHEN
Gripping exercises are great to strengthen all of the wrist muscles needed to prevent golfer’ s elbow.
BOTTOMS-UP KETTLEBELL CARRY 1. Hold a kettlebell by the handle and swing the ball over top of your hand, so the kettlebell is bottom-up.
2. Keep your knuckles parallel to the ceiling and a neutral wrist— don’ t let your wrist bend forward or backward.
3. Stand in place, with the kettlebell held aloft, for 60 seconds. For a more difficult exercise, hold the kettlebell in place while walking for 60 seconds.
MASSAGE
Massage increases your muscles’ range of motion before stretching.
SEARCH AND DESTROY 1. Apply light pressure to the area( it might feel like a bump or a bruise), with your fingers, a tennis ball or a lacrosse ball.
2. While maintaining pressure, move your wrist up and down in a“ tapping” motion to move the muscles around your fingers( or ball). 3. Continue to work in the area for 10 seconds. 4. Move your fingers or ball approximately 1 inch and repeat.
vsga. org J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 37