The key difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow is that in golfer’s elbow, the inflammation happens in the medial condyle while in the tennis elbow, the inflammation happens in lateral condyle.
Enthesitis refer to inflammatory processes happening at the sites of insertion of the tendons to their bony locations. Both golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow are forms of enthesitis. To be specific, golfer’s elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the wrist flexors into the medial condyle whereas tennis elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the extensors of the forearm into the lateral condyle.
CONTENT
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Golfer’s Elbow
3. What is Tennis Elbow
4. Similarities Between Golfer’s Elbow and Tennis Elbow
5. Side by Side Comparison – Golfer’s Elbow vs Tennis Elbow in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Golfer’s Elbow?
Golfer’s elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the wrist flexors into the medial. There is pain in the forearm with the exertion of the affected muscles. Moreover, the flexor compartment of the forearm may become tender. In worst cases, wrist pain may also occur. Despite the name Golfer’s elbow; golfers are not at a higher risk of developing this condition than the normal population.
The main cause of golfer’s elbow is the overuse of flexor and pronator muscles of the forearm causing tears in the muscle fibers.
Figure 01: Golfer’s Elbow
No specific treatment is required in the management of golfer’s elbow. Resting the muscles and tendons, allowing them to heal and rejuvenate, will result in complete remission of the pain and tenderness. Moreover, analgesic agents can alleviate the pain.
What is Tennis Elbow?
Tennis elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the extensors of the forearm into the lateral condyle. Similar to golfer’s elbow, in this condition also there can be pain and tenderness over the affected muscles. The overuse of extensors of the forearm can cause tears in the tendons, causing a tendinitis at the point that they enter the lateral epicondyle. Tennis players use their extensors repetitively in playing backhand strokes and thus suffer from this condition frequently.
Figure 02: Tennis Elbow
Minimizing the use of the affected muscles alone can result in spontaneous resolution of the symptoms. If the troublesome symptoms remain physiotherapy and analgesic drugs can be used to induce remission.
What are the Similarities Between Golfer’s Elbow and Tennis Elbow?
- Both conditions are due to the inflammation of the tendons at their point of insertion into the epicondyles.
- In both forms, there is pain and tenderness over the affected muscle groups of the forearms.
- No specific treatment is required in the management of Golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow. Rest alone can alleviate the symptoms.
What is the Difference Between Golfer’s Elbow and Tennis Elbow?
Golfer’s elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the wrist flexors into the medial condyle. Tennis elbow, on the other hand, is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the extensors of the forearm into the lateral condyle. In golfer’s elbow, the inflammation is at the medial condyle whereas, in the tennis elbow, the inflammation is at the lateral condyle. This is the main difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow.
Moreover, the cause of golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow too differ. The excessive use of flexors of the forearms is the cause of golfer’s elbow while excessive use of extensor of the forearms is the cause of tennis elbow.
Summary – Golfer’s Elbow vs Tennis Elbow
Golfer’s elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the wrist flexors into the medial condyle while tennis elbow is the inflammation at the point of insertion of the extensors of the forearm into the lateral condyle. Accordingly, in golfer’s elbow, the medial condyle is the inflammatory focus whereas, in tennis elbow, the lateral condyle is the inflammatory focus. Thus, this is the main difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow.
Reference:
1. Kumar, Parveen J., and Michael L. Clark. Kumar & Clark clinical medicine. Edinburgh: W.B. Saunders, 2009.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Golfers-Elbow SAG” By www.scientificanimations.com – (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Tennis Elbow” By BruceBlaus – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia