Part of Golfer's elbow
Does golfer's elbow cause a lump, swelling or bruising?
Warning signs, and when to get help
Does golfer's elbow cause a lump?
Not in anything we can source. OrthoInfo, the patient site of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, gives three common symptoms for medial epicondylitis: pain or burning on the inside of the elbow, with shooting pain now and then running down toward the hand; a weak grip; and reduced range of motion at the wrist or elbow, which it puts down to the pain. It adds that some patients also develop numbness and tingling in their ring and pinky fingers. Swelling is not there. A lump is not there either, and neither is a bump.
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, an NHS hospital in Birmingham, describes the same condition for UK readers and mentions only one lump on the whole page, which is the bony one: it places the tendon tears and inflammation near the bony lump on the inside of the elbow. It does not list a lump as something you would notice.
So if you can feel something, the question is not whether golfer's elbow made it. The question is what else sits at an elbow, and the rest of this page works through that. If it is the pattern of the pain you are trying to match rather than a lump, where golfer's elbow hurts and where it spreads is the better page.
The bump on the inside of your elbow is usually bone
Run a thumb along the inner side of your elbow and you will find a firm, rounded point of bone under the skin. That is the medial epicondyle. The golfer's elbow program describes it as the bony lump you can feel on the inner side of the elbow, and it is where the common tendon of the wrist flexors anchors, which is exactly why the pain of this condition sits on it.
That is also why people find it. You press around looking for the sore spot, your thumb lands on a hard bump you have never consciously felt before, and the two facts arrive together.
The check takes five seconds. Feel the same place on your other arm. The medial epicondyle is on both, in the same position, roughly the same size, and it does not move under the skin. Tenderness on one side only is expected with golfer's elbow, and so is more tenderness on the sore arm.
What that comparison does not do is clear a different lump somewhere else. Finding the bony point on both arms tells you that point is anatomy. It says nothing about a soft swelling at the back of the elbow, or about a firm lump that moves under your fingers.
Does golfer's elbow cause swelling?
Our main patient source for the inner elbow does not describe swelling at all. The word does not appear on OrthoInfo's medial epicondylitis page anywhere.
One clinical source does mention it, and the detail is more use than the absence on its own. Konarski and colleagues write that an examination can find swelling, redness or warmth in acute cases, while long-standing medial epicondylitis rarely shows any of the three (Konarski and colleagues, 2023). So a little warmth or puffiness over the sore spot in the early weeks does not contradict the diagnosis. What no source describes is a lump you can take hold of, or a swelling big enough to change the shape of the elbow.
The outer elbow is described differently. The NHS page for tennis elbow, which is the same type of tendon problem on the other side of the same joint, names tenderness or swelling in your elbow in its symptom list. Both conditions are overloaded tendon attachments, and only one of the two patient sources mentions swelling at all.
The structure that does swell at an elbow has a name and a job. The NHS describes bursitis as the fluid-filled sacs that cushion the joints becoming painful and swollen, and says it is most common in the shoulders, hips, elbows or knees. The review of medial epicondylitis by Tahir and colleagues (2026) lists olecranon bursitis among the problems that get mistaken for this condition, as the golfer's elbow program already records.
Put those together and a swelling you can see at an elbow, particularly one that has been sore for months, is not well explained by the inner elbow tendon on its own. It is a reason to have the elbow examined rather than matched to a page.
One kind of swelling is not about the elbow at all, and it is the reason we say where the swelling sits before we say anything else. A whole forearm, hand or upper arm that is swelling up rather than settling, feeling heavy or tight, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, with swollen veins that are sore to touch or a throbbing, cramping pain unlike ordinary muscle ache, can be a blood clot in a vein of the arm. It is uncommon, and it is the one swelling on this page where rubbing or massaging the arm is the wrong thing to do. The warning list below carries that line with its timing, and it tells you to leave the arm alone and get advice rather than work on it.
A squashy swelling at the point of the elbow is a different thing
Where you can feel it is the first question any clinician will ask, because the inner side and the point of the elbow are different structures. Golfer's elbow sits on the inner side, in line with your little finger when the palm faces up. The point of the elbow is at the back, the part you lean on.
A bursa sits over that point. OrthoInfo says it acts as a cushion between bone and soft tissue, that it is normally flat, and that it fills with fluid if it becomes irritated or inflamed. The first symptom of elbow bursitis, it says, is often swelling. That is why this one is noticed by sight or by the sleeve of a shirt rather than by pain while gripping.
This site has no page for olecranon bursitis, so we are not going to pretend to cover it in a paragraph. The point to take from it is the location. A soft, fluid swelling at the back point of the elbow and a sore bony spot on the inner side are two different findings, and a reader can have either without having the other.
A hot, red or swollen elbow, with or without a fever
This is the part not to skim, and it is why the page carries a warning list.
An elbow that is hot, red and swollen, or elbow pain together with a high temperature or feeling hot, cold or shivery, needs medical advice the same day, and an emergency department if you feel very unwell. Infection in a joint is treated quickly. The full wording is on the list below.
A bursa can be infected too, and OrthoInfo is specific about how. Bacteria can get in through a break in the skin at the tip of the elbow, such as an insect bite, a scrape or a puncture wound, and the infected bursa then produces fluid, redness, swelling and pain. Once it is infected, the skin over it goes red and warm. It also says the sac can become infected without an obvious injury to the skin, so the absence of a cut proves nothing.
The same page is blunt about why that matters. Left untreated, that fluid can turn to pus, and an infection not treated promptly can spread into the rest of the arm or into the bloodstream. An infected bursa occasionally opens on its own and drains pus. Any of that means using the same-day line below now, and an emergency department if you feel very unwell with it.
Redness is not equally easy to see on everyone. Both the NHS bursitis page and the NHS gout page note that redness can be harder to see on brown or black skin, so judge heat, swelling and how unwell you feel alongside it rather than waiting for a color change. The NHS also asks you to get help from NHS 111 if your arm is swollen and you have a very high temperature, or you feel hot, cold or shivery.
Does golfer's elbow cause bruising?
No, and if you have one, the bruise has told you more than any symptom list will. Blood under the skin means something was struck or something tore. The gradual tendon overload OrthoInfo describes for medial epicondylitis does not do that.
The story behind the bruise decides the route, and every route is on the list below in full. A fall or a blow to the elbow, with severe pain, a snap, swelling or bruising, or an arm you cannot bend or straighten, is a same-day trip to an urgent care center or emergency department. An arm that has changed shape, a bone showing, heavy bleeding, or a hand that has gone numb or tingly or turned cold, pale or blue is an emergency, and the NHS takes the same view, sending an injured arm with a snapping noise, a changed shape, or tingling and numbness, to an urgent care service or an emergency department. What happens afterward, if a bone was broken, is on the elbow fracture rehab program.
Two injuries produce bruising at the elbow without a fall. One is a pop or a sudden snap on the inside while throwing, which has its own same-day line below and is the subject of golfer's elbow or a UCL injury. The other is a pop at the front of the elbow, often with bruising spreading down the forearm and a muscle at the front of the upper arm that bunches up, which is also same day and which elbow pain when lifting covers in detail.
Lumps that are neither: gout, inflammatory arthritis and a lump that is changing
Gout reaches the elbow. The NHS lists the joints it can affect as usually the big toe, and then other joints in the feet, ankles, hands, wrists, elbows or knees, and describes the attack as sudden severe pain in a joint with hot, swollen, red skin over it. Symptoms of gout for the first time are a reason to see a GP.
Gout also has an urgent form, and it reads much like the infection route above for a reason. The NHS says to ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you have sudden pain and swelling in a joint and the pain is getting worse, or you also have a very high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you also feel sick or cannot eat, because those symptoms could mean an infection inside the joint. Over a long period, repeated attacks can leave hard lumps called tophi under the skin, which the NHS says are usually on the ears, fingers or elbows. There is no gout page on this site, so that is the whole of what we will say about it.
Inflammatory joint disease shows up as a swelling rather than as a lump. OrthoInfo names rheumatoid arthritis and gout among the conditions associated with elbow bursitis, and adds that for a swelling at the point of the elbow a doctor may take a small sample of bursal fluid with a needle to tell infection from gout. If you are already under a team for rheumatoid arthritis or another inflammatory condition, a new elbow swelling is something to tell them about rather than to work out alone.
Then there is the lump that does not fit any of this. Nothing in the sources for golfer's elbow describes a lump, so a lump you cannot account for, one that is getting bigger, one that is hard and does not move, or one sitting there without any elbow pain at all, is a reason to have it examined. The warning list below gives that its own line and its own timing, because growing is the feature that matters: NICE, which sets the referral rules for the NHS, asks doctors to arrange an urgent ultrasound scan for an adult with an unexplained lump that is increasing in size, and to move faster still for a child or teenager with swelling or bone pain nobody can explain. Most lumps turn out to be none of that, and the point of the timing is that the question gets answered rather than watched. This page does not tell you that a lump is harmless, and it is not able to.
What to do about a swelling or a lump you have just found
Answer three questions before your appointment, because they are the three you will be asked and they are much easier to answer while it is in front of you. Where exactly is it: the inner side, the back point, or the crease at the front? What does it feel like: soft and fluid, hard and bony, or firm and fixed? And what came before it: a fall, a blow, a throw, a few hot and red days, or nothing you can name?
Feel the other elbow in the same places while you are at it. Plenty of what people find at an elbow turns out to be on both arms, and the comparison is the fastest way to describe what you are feeling to someone else.
A photo with the date on it is more use than a memory. Whether a swelling is growing, settling or holding steady is one of the things a clinician most wants to know, and nobody recalls it accurately two weeks later.
Then use the timings rather than the reassurance. Hot, red and swollen, or any fever with elbow pain, is the same day, and so is a whole forearm or upper arm that is swelling up rather than settling. A lump you cannot account for that is getting bigger, or one that is hard and does not move, needs your doctor within a few days, sooner for a child or teenager. Anything after a fall or a blow has its own line and some of it is an emergency.
If none of that applies and the elbow simply aches when you grip, the golfer's elbow program is the page you want, and the elbow pages cover the other problems in this area. What this page will not do is name your lump, because that takes an examination by someone who can feel it and compare it, and getting it wrong in either direction has a cost.
Related exercise programs
Warning signs
Get emergency help now
- Emergency: after a fall or a blow to the elbow, the arm has changed shape or sits at an odd angle, a bone is showing through the skin, a cut is bleeding heavily, or the hand has gone numb or tingly or turns cold, pale or blue. Go to an emergency department or call emergency services straight away, and do not drive yourself.
- Your arm, hand or fingers turn cold, pale, blue or gray compared with the other side. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. The blood supply to the arm may be blocked.
- The pain started with a fall or a blow to the elbow, and the pain is severe, you heard a snap, the elbow is swollen or bruised, or you cannot bend or straighten the arm. Go to an urgent care center or emergency department the same day.
- A sudden pop or snap at the front of your elbow, sudden sharp pain there, or the muscle at the front of your upper arm bunches up or changes shape. Stop and go to an urgent care center or emergency department the same day, even if you can still bend the elbow, as this can be a torn biceps tendon.
Get help today
- The elbow is hot, red and swollen, or you have elbow pain with a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery. Get medical advice the same day, and go to an emergency department if you feel very unwell. This can be a sign of infection in the joint, which needs treatment quickly.
- Your forearm, hand or upper arm is swelling up rather than settling, feels heavy or tight, or becomes warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that feels different from normal muscle ache. A blood clot can form in a vein in the arm. Do not massage it. Stop and get medical advice the same day. If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services.
- Same day: you throw, and you heard a pop or felt a sudden snap on the inside of the elbow, followed by pain, a throw you could not finish, or an elbow that feels loose or unstable. Stop throwing straight away and get the elbow checked the same day, because the ligament on the inner side of the elbow (ulnar collateral ligament) may be injured, and in a thrower who is still growing the same pop can be a piece of bone pulled off the inside of the elbow. If the thrower is a child or teenager, go to an urgent care center or emergency department the same day, because that needs an X-ray.
- The pain is there at night or at rest and keeps getting worse. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
Book an appointment
- A lump or swelling at the elbow that you cannot account for and that is getting bigger, or one that is hard and does not move, needs examining rather than watching. See your doctor within a few days and ask whether a scan is needed. In a child or teenager, swelling or pain at the elbow that nobody can account for needs a doctor within a day or two. Ask for an urgent appointment rather than the next routine one.
- The pain is there at night or at rest and keeps getting worse. If you have had cancer, now or in the past, or are losing weight without trying, see your doctor sooner, within a day or two, and mention it. This applies even if the pain is not getting worse.
- The pain is there at night or at rest and keeps getting worse. See your doctor within a few days.
Common questions
Does golfer's elbow cause swelling?
The source we lean on most for this condition does not say it does. OrthoInfo's symptom list for medial epicondylitis runs to pain or burning on the inner elbow, occasional shooting pain toward the hand, a weak grip and reduced wrist or elbow movement, and the word swelling does not appear on the page at all. A clinical review goes a little further: Konarski and colleagues (2023) say an examination can find swelling, redness or warmth in acute cases, although long-standing medial epicondylitis rarely shows them. The comparison with the other side is interesting too, because the NHS page for tennis elbow, the same kind of tendon problem on the outer side, does name tenderness or swelling in your elbow among its symptoms. So swelling at an elbow tendon is not unheard of, and a swelling you can actually see is still worth having examined rather than filed under golfer's elbow. If it is hot or red, or you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery with it, that is same-day advice, and the warning list on this page gives the wording.
Can golfer's elbow cause bruising?
No, and the bruise is the most useful thing you could have noticed. A bruise is blood under the skin, so something has been struck or has torn, and that is an injury rather than the gradual tendon overload OrthoInfo describes for medial epicondylitis. Where the bruise sends you depends on the story behind it. A fall or a blow to the elbow with severe pain, a snap, swelling, bruising or an arm you cannot bend or straighten is a same-day trip to an urgent care center or emergency department, and a changed shape, a bone showing, heavy bleeding or a hand that has gone numb or cold is an emergency. A pop on the inside while throwing has its own line on this page, and a pop at the front of the elbow with bruising spreading down the forearm points at the biceps tendon and is also same day. Read the full warning list rather than this summary of it.
Can golfer's elbow make your hand swell?
Nothing in the sources that describe this condition includes a swollen hand. OrthoInfo's medial epicondylitis page names pain, weak grip, reduced movement and, in some patients, numbness and tingling in the ring and pinky fingers, and says nothing about swelling anywhere. So a hand or forearm that is visibly swelling is a reason to be seen rather than something to manage from this page. The NHS asks you to get help from NHS 111 if your arm is swollen and you have a very high temperature, or you feel hot, cold or shivery, and our own same-day line for a hot, red, swollen elbow is on the warning list below. If the swelling followed an injury, use the injury lines on that list instead, because they come first.
Is there a treatment for a golfer's elbow lump?
There is no lump in the condition, so there is nothing of that kind to treat. The treatment for golfer's elbow is graded loading of the forearm muscles, and the staged program sits on the golfer's elbow program along with the answers on braces, injections and how long it takes. If you can feel a swelling, what is done about it depends entirely on what it turns out to be, which is why the first step is an examination rather than a search. A soft swelling at the back point of the elbow, a bony bump on the inner side and a bruised elbow after a fall are three different findings with three different answers, and this page sets out what each one looks like without telling you which is yours. If the elbow is hot, red and swollen, or you have a high temperature with it, do not wait for an appointment: that is the same-day line on the warning list.
References
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow). OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/medial-epicondylitis-golfers-elbow/
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Elbow (olecranon) bursitis. OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/elbow-olecranon-bursitis/
- Konarski W, Poboży T, Poboży K, Domańska J, Konarska K. Current concepts of natural course and in management of medial epicondylitis: a clinical overview. Orthopedic Reviews. 2023;15. https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.84275
- NHS. Gout. Page last reviewed 24 August 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gout/
- NHS. Bursitis. Page last reviewed 30 October 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bursitis/
- NHS. Elbow and arm pain. Page last reviewed 26 January 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/elbow-and-arm-pain/
- NHS. Septic arthritis. Page last reviewed 3 September 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/septic-arthritis/
- NHS. DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Page last reviewed 30 April 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt/
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Suspected cancer: recognition and referral. NICE guideline NG12. Published 23 June 2015, last updated 15 April 2026. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12
- NHS. Broken arm or wrist. Page last reviewed 2 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/broken-arm-or-wrist/
- NHS. Tennis elbow. Page last reviewed 31 May 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tennis-elbow/
- Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Golfer's elbow/medial epicondylitis. https://roh.nhs.uk/services-information/therapy/golfers-elbow
- Tahir A, Chanian N, Tiwana S, Sahu MA, Blackwell J. Medial epicondylitis: a review of clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management in the United Kingdom. Cureus. 2026;18(1):e102264. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.102264
Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-21.
This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.