Dr Gautam Tawari is an accredited orthopedic sports surgeon from The Royal College of Surgeon in the UK. Now practising as a Orthopedic Doctor & Surgeon in Mumbai. He has a Diploma in Sports & exercises Medicine (Dip.SEM) from the college and is a Fellow of the Sports & Exercise Medicine Society of the UK.
He has worked as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in the UK and specialises in advanced elbow joint arthroscopy & Sports related injuries to the elbow joint.
The common sports related injuries he treats surgically include – Tennis Elbow, collateral ligament ruptures, Elbow instability and elbow pain from cartilage damage requiring intervention using elbow Arthroscopy. Sports related elbow fractures / trauma and ligament injuries..
Golfer’s elbow is a chronic degeneration of tendon on the inner side of the elbow. It is also known as ‘medial epicondylitis’
Cause
The exact cause of golfers elbow is not known, but it does tend to occur after repetitive strain of the tendon or injury.
Presentation
Pain over the bony prominence on the inner side of the elbow. The pain often extends down the forearm to the wrist and hand. The pain is made worse on loading of the flexor-pronator muscles of the forearm.
Pain is typically localised over the bony bump on the inside of the elbow (medial epicondyle) and may extend down to the hand. This area is usually very tender to touch.
Treatment
The type and duration of the treatment often depends on the severity of the condition.
- Elimination of the activities that cause the pain (tennis, golf, Gym).
- Pain killers and anti-inflammatory medications
- An elbow worn just below the elbow to limit the stress on the muscles helps in initial treatment.
- Physiotherapy focussed on the eccentric exercises helps to release the tendon inflammation and retrain the muscles
- Injections are second line of treatment. Steroid injections should be avoided, they have a detrimental overall effect on the tendon.
- More recently Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections have shown to be more effective than steroid injections, but are more expensive.
If the condition does not respond to the above treatments, surgery may be necessary.
The surgery is usually performed as day case surgery. This may be performed by an open approach, percutaneous or arthroscopically (keyhole).
Prevention
To prevent golfers elbow from reoccurring, it is important to make sure you keep the muscles strong by exercise, warming up before starting to use the muscle also helps to prevent the condition.