Patients who suffer from golfer's elbow are often involved with racquet sports or golf. As with tennis elbow it may be as a result of overuse of the medial forearm muscles (common flexors of the wrist and fingers) and/or traumatizing the elbow by hitting several golf shots using a "poor" swing technique or repeatedly hitting the turf (especially hard ones).

Patients usually complain of pain at the inner aspect of the elbow and the inability to use the arm and hand. Symptoms can be usually reproduced with resisted finger and wrist flexion.

The condition is called Golfer's Elbow because in making a golf swing this tendon is stressed, especially if a non-overlapping (baseball style) grip is used; many people, however, who develop the condition have never handled a golf club. It is also sometimes called Pitcher's Elbow due to the same tendon being stressed by the throwing of objects such as a baseball, but this usage is much less frequent.

This condition is characterized by pain along the lateral aspect of the elbow and the inability to use or grasp objects with the affected hand. Interestingly this disorder, contrary to common perception afflicts only five percent of people who play tennis.

It is important to point out that pain in and around the elbow could also be due to referred pain from the cervical spine and or irritation of nerves supplying the elbow any way along the course of the nerve. Thus, it is important to differentially diagnose the exact cause of elbow pain before planning its management.

As with golfer's elbow, patients with tennis elbow have extreme difficulty using their affected hand to perform simple day-to-day activities such as opening doors, picking-up objects, grasping a fork or a spoon.