Part of Golfer's elbow
Where golfer's elbow hurts, and where it spreads
Warning signs, and when to get help
Where does golfer's elbow hurt?
Turn the palm up and run a thumb along the inner side of the elbow. You will meet a bony lump standing proud of everything around it (the medial epicondyle), and golfer's elbow hurts on that lump and in the short stretch of tendon just below it, where the forearm muscles anchor onto bone. The sore area is small. Most people can cover it with a couple of fingertips, which is why a pain that wanders around the joint from day to day, or that you cannot put a finger on at all, is already behaving unlike the thing this page describes.
Several muscles share that one attachment, which is part of why it takes so much traffic. OrthoInfo, the patient site of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, names the pronator teres, the muscle that turns the palm down, as the one most often injured there, with the wrist flexors beside it. A clinical overview of the condition puts the location plainly: the pain sits at the inner side of the elbow (Konarski and colleagues, 2023).
One structure in that corner is not the tendon. The ulnar nerve passes behind the same bony lump, and OrthoInfo calls that spot the funny bone, because catching it sends a shock down into the hand. Tendon pain stays around the elbow and the forearm. Nerve symptoms go to the fingers. That is the most useful distinction on this page, and the rest of it keeps coming back to it.
How far down the forearm does the pain spread?
Down the palm side, and sometimes as far as the hand. OrthoInfo describes pain or a burning feeling on the inner side of the elbow, with the odd shooting pain heading down toward the hand. Konarski and colleagues (2023) describe the same thing from the other direction: pain at the inner elbow that sometimes travels down into the forearm. That spread is not a complication and not a sign the problem has grown. The muscles that attach at the sore spot run the length of the forearm to the wrist and fingers, so an ache along their line is what you would expect.
Grip often feels weak with it. OrthoInfo lists weak grip strength among the symptoms, along with less movement at the wrist or elbow, usually because going further hurts. In clinic what people describe is a grip that gives out partway rather than a hand that has lost its power, and saying it that way round is worth more at an assessment than either word on its own.
If you want elbow pain sorted by which side of the joint it sits on, with the outer, inner, front and nerve patterns laid out together, elbow pain when lifting does that job and this page does not repeat it.
Can golfer's elbow reach the wrist or the hand?
Pain can reach that far. OrthoInfo's occasional shooting pain down toward the hand is part of the picture, and people often describe the ache fading out somewhere around the wrist crease on the palm side.
A few descriptions do not belong to the tendon, though. A hand or fingers that go numb or tingly. A pain whose center is at the wrist itself rather than the elbow. And a hand that drops things because the fingers will not work properly, as opposed to one that lets go because gripping hurts. Those point at the nerve behind the elbow, at the wrist, or at something that needs examining rather than naming.
Cubital tunnel syndrome is the page for that nerve where it passes the elbow, and the sibling page on golfer's elbow or a trapped nerve at the elbow takes the comparison apart properly, including why the two turn up together.
Why pressing the spot reproduces the pain, and what that does and does not prove
Press the tender point, then grip something firmly, and the same pain turns up in the same place both times. That repeatability is the tendon behaving like a tendon, and it is why this diagnosis is made in a room rather than in a scanner. Konarski and colleagues (2023) describe the diagnosis as clinical, taken from the history and the examination, with imaging used mainly to rule other things out, and they call pain on resisted wrist flexion and pronation the most sensitive examination finding. OrthoInfo describes the same two steps from the doctor's side: pressing on the bony points of the elbow to work out where the pain is coming from, then moving the wrist, forearm and elbow against resistance.
Now the limit, which matters more than the trick itself. Reproducing your own pain shows that the tendon is part of what hurts. It does not show that nothing else is. OrthoInfo lists X-rays to rule out a fracture or arthritis, ultrasound or MRI to judge how bad the tendon injury is or to exclude conditions that look similar, including an injury to the ligament on the inner side of the elbow, and nerve studies where nerve compression is a possibility. A clinician pressing your elbow is sorting between those, not confirming what you arrived suspecting.
So treat the sore spot as a description rather than a verdict. One piece of history outranks it outright: if the pain arrived in a single moment during a throw, read golfer's elbow or a UCL injury before you read anything else here.
What pain in the ring and little fingers means instead
That pattern belongs to the nerve. OrthoInfo notes that some people with golfer's elbow also develop numbness and tingling in the ring and little fingers, and its page on the nerve behind the elbow gives those two fingers as the usual site, with a feeling of them falling asleep, more so when the elbow is bent, as it is while driving or holding a phone to your ear. Leaning on the elbow for long spells presses on the same nerve.
That page adds something this one cannot. Cubital tunnel syndrome can ache on the inside of the elbow in its own right, so the location overlaps with golfer's elbow, although most of its symptoms land in the hand rather than at the joint. It is also one explanation for a grip that is genuinely weakening, or fingers that have become clumsy with small tasks, which a sore tendon does not usually produce.
None of that is something to sort out by reading. The warning list at the foot of this page carries numbness and tingling with the timeframe each pattern needs, including the point at which OrthoInfo advises seeing a doctor about symptoms in those two fingers.
Pain on the outside, the point of the elbow and the front crease
Pain on the outer side of the elbow, where the muscles that lift the wrist and fingers attach, is tennis elbow rather than this condition, and it has a program of its own. The tennis versus golfer's elbow question is answered on the golfer's elbow program and is not rewritten here.
A sore, puffy point right on the tip of the elbow, the part you lean on at a desk, is a different structure again, and swelling, lumps and bruising at the elbow covers what turns up there and what each thing needs. Pain in the crease at the front of the elbow, where the biceps attaches below the joint, belongs with biceps tendinopathy.
Does it hurt all the time, or only when you grip?
Early on, only when you ask for it. The pattern is a firm grip with the wrist working at the same time, and Konarski and colleagues (2023) name grasping and lifting objects among the movements that provoke it. OrthoInfo adds that symptoms usually come on gradually and get worse over weeks to months, which is why so few people can name the day it started.
What we see most is a tendon that complains during the task and then for a few hours afterward. The golfer's elbow program sets out how much discomfort is acceptable while you are loading it, when to stop an exercise and when to drop back a step, along with the everyday jobs that provoke this elbow most reliably.
Pain that is there at night or at rest and keeps getting worse is a different matter, and it sits on the warning list below rather than in this paragraph.
When where it hurts is a reason to be checked
It is the mismatches that are worth an appointment. Pain you cannot localize, pain on more than one side of the joint at once, numbness or tingling in the hand, a grip that is weakening rather than sore, or pain that arrived in a single moment: each of those is a reason to be examined rather than to read further.
The NHS puts elbow and arm pain that has lasted more than a few weeks in front of a GP. It advises contacting 111 if the arm is swollen along with a very high temperature or feeling hot, cold or shivery, or if the arm hurts during exercise and eases with rest. Severe arm pain that is hard to move through, an injury where you heard a snap or the arm has changed shape, and an arm that tingles or feels numb all go to urgent care or an emergency department. Arm pain that comes on suddenly together with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across the chest is an emergency call, and the warning list below says the same.
Everything else on that list has its own timeframe attached, and several lines need help today rather than an appointment next week.
Related exercise programs
Warning signs
Get emergency help now
- Emergency: any sign of a stroke, even if it goes away. That means a face that droops on one side, an arm you cannot lift or keep up, slurred or muddled speech, weakness or numbness on one side of your body or face, sudden blurred vision, double vision or loss of sight, trouble swallowing, sudden dizziness with unsteadiness or falling over, a sudden severe headache, or a sudden fall where your legs give way but you do not black out (a drop attack). Call emergency services straight away.
- Chest pain or tightness, which may spread to your arm, neck or jaw, or shoulder or arm pain that comes with shortness of breath, sweating or feeling sick. This can be a heart attack. Call emergency services straight away.
- 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
- 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.
- Pins and needles in your arm or hand that do not go away after you stop, or part of your arm or hand goes numb. Get medical advice the same day. If one side of your face or body suddenly goes numb or weak, or your speech becomes slurred or muddled, call emergency services, even if it goes away.
- 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.
- 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
- Your hand is getting weaker, you keep dropping things, your fingers feel clumsy, or the web of muscle between your thumb and index finger, or the little finger side of your palm, looks thinner or hollow compared with your other hand. This can mean the nerve behind the elbow is being squeezed. See a doctor within a few days. If the weakness is getting worse from day to day, get medical advice the same day.
- You have numbness, tingling or pins and needles in your hand or fingers, most often the ring and little fingers. Stop any exercise that brings it on and see a physio or doctor. For the ring and little fingers, OrthoInfo advises seeing a doctor if the symptoms are severe, or if milder symptoms have lasted more than 6 weeks.
- Pain spreads from your neck down the arm, or turning or tilting your neck brings on the arm pain. See a physio or doctor, because the problem may be in the neck rather than the elbow.
- The elbow locks, catches or keeps giving way in everyday use, without a pop from throwing. See a physio or doctor rather than pushing on with the exercises.
- 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
Where does golfer's elbow hurt the most?
On the bony lump on the inner side of the elbow, or in the first part of the tendon just below it. Most people can cover the whole sore area with a couple of fingertips, and pressing it is sore in a way they recognize rather than vague. The spread down the forearm is usually less intense than that spot, which is why a forearm ache without a tender point at the elbow makes a physio look at other things first.
Can golfer's elbow cause forearm pain?
Yes, and it is ordinary rather than a sign that something has got worse. OrthoInfo describes occasional shooting pain down toward the hand, and Konarski and colleagues (2023) describe pain at the inner elbow that sometimes travels down into the forearm. The muscles that anchor at the sore spot run the length of the forearm to the wrist and fingers, so an ache along their line fits. What fits less well is forearm pain with no tenderness at the elbow at all, or pain that sits on the back of the forearm rather than the palm side.
Is golfer's elbow pain in the same place as tennis elbow?
No. They are on opposite sides of the same joint: golfer's elbow on the inner side, where the muscles that bend the wrist and turn the palm down attach, and tennis elbow on the outer side, where the muscles that lift the wrist and fingers attach. Both are tendon attachment problems and both are treated with graded loading, so the side is the thing to get right first. The golfer's elbow program answers the rest of that comparison in its own questions.
Is there a picture of where golfer's elbow hurts?
Not on this page, and a photograph of someone else's elbow is a poor substitute for finding the spot on your own arm. Do this instead. Turn the palm up, straighten the elbow, and run a thumb along the inner edge of the joint until you meet a bony lump standing proud of everything around it. If pressing on that lump, or on the tendon just below it, brings on the pain you came here about, that is the area these pages mean by the inner elbow. If the pain you recognize is somewhere else entirely, elbow pain when lifting sorts the joint by side.
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. Cubital tunnel syndrome (ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow). OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/ulnar-nerve-entrapment-at-the-elbow/
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury. OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/ulnar-collateral-ligament-ucl-injury/
- 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. Elbow and arm pain. Page last reviewed 26 January 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/elbow-and-arm-pain/
Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-18.
This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.