Golfer's elbow is characterized by:

• Pain and tenderness. Usually felt on the inner side of your elbow, the pain sometimes extends along the inner side of your forearm. Pain typically worsens with certain movements.
• Stiffness. Your elbow may feel stiff, and making a fist might hurt.
• Weakness. You may have weakness in your hands and wrists.
• Numbness or tingling. These sensations might radiate into one or more fingers — usually the ring and little fingers.

Golfer's elbow, also known as medial epicondylitis, is caused by damage to the muscles and tendons that control your wrist and fingers. The damage is typically related to excess or repeated stress — especially forceful wrist and finger motions. Improper lifting, throwing or hitting, as well as too little warmup or poor conditioning, also can contribute to golfer's elbow.

Besides golf, many activities and occupations can lead to golfer's elbow, including:

• Racket sports. Improper technique with tennis strokes, especially the backhand, can cause injury to the tendon. Excessive use of topspin and using a racket that's too small or heavy also can lead to injury.
• Throwing sports. Improper pitching technique in baseball or softball can be another culprit. Football, archery and javelin throwing also can cause golfer's elbow.
• Weight training. Lifting weights using improper technique, such as curling the wrists during a biceps exercise, can overload the elbow muscles and tendons.
• Forceful, repetitive occupational movements. These occur in fields such as construction, plumbing and carpentry

You could be at higher risk of developing golfer's elbow if you're:

• Age 40 or older
• Performing repetitive activity at least two hours a day
• Obese

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