Roughly 1/4 of my throws result in severe pain in my throwing elbow. It seems to be centered where the elbow meets my upper arm on the outside. According to Blake's website this may be a result of not following through sufficiently. I believe the correct finish angle for the throwing arm should be almost 180 degrees from the target. However it seems that even when I accomplish this the pain still occurs. When I don't accomplish a full follow through my arm is still 130-150� back from the target. What other factors could be involved here?

I just saw some video of myself throwing and I am doing a fairly standard X-step, bending my elbow and pulling across my chest. The only thing I saw I might be doing wrong is at the farthest point of my reach back the disc is up above my shoulders by a couple of inches with the arm straight, then as I pull through I drop the disc to just above waist level as my arm bends with my arm following through up and around to give the disc an upward trajectory. Open field D I average about 365-375 with about 30% going over 400' so I have a good amount of power, but not a crazy amount.

I don't know if it is just a side-effect of the pain on driving but occassionally I will get smaller tweaks of pain when throwing an approach shot with no run-up.

Sounds like you have a real problem there. It may be the same thing that happens to baseball pitchers, torn tendons or possibly a bone spur. I suggest seeing a doctor as soon as possible. I have a buddy of mine that has the same issue. He just went to the doc last week and low and behold, he has a bone spur in his elbow from all the years of throwing. He'll possibly need surgery in order to remove the spur.

Good Luck!

I've only been playing seriously a year, and it doesn't happen every throw. I appreciate the advice, but at this point I'm thinking it is something in my throwing mechanics that is causing inflammation of one of the tendons. Definitely something to keep in mind though, thanks!

Anyone have experience with either Tennis Elbow or Radiant Tunnel Syndrome?

I get that about 1 or 2 times out of 100 throws or so. I get a shooting pain in my elbow, then it goes away after a couple minutes. I think it happens when I hyper-extend my elbow when I'm throwing(bad technique everyonce in a while I guess). I know someone else that gets that everyonce in a while. I feel your pain

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I had something similar when I started. I stopped throwing with that arm for a while (my left arm never got very good though). I learned some stretches and strength exercises (simple ones) to try and allow whatever it was to heal. I also started using a "Dyna Flex" (here is a link for E-bay) (http://search.ebay.com/dyna-flex_W0QQsonewuserZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1) exercise ball. Those things are great, and I still use it.

For me, on tunnel shots, I was hyper extending my elbow, just a bit. Man that hurts! When I started throwing again, I went with a slower motion, less distance, and no pain. Once you allow the problem to heal, and learn the right technique, you will be much better off. Could take some time though. Good Luck!

i have the same problem . its caused by hyperextending your are at realese. my dr. took xrays and i have a bone spur, very common to bone surs people get on ther feet.

one question, how old are you? nothing personal but age is a huge factor on pain related joint injuries.....im over 40, last year about this same time i developed a major case of tendonitis in my throwing elbow, i think as a result of the cold weather where i live, and using the computer, and throwing disc without giving my elbow a break, it got so bad i had to quit throwing, for about three months, got an elbow brace which helped a little, and most importantly quit using the mouse on my computer with my throwing hand. that helped a lot after time, .....now this doesnt sound like what you are experiencing, but it may lead to this if your not careful,.....i just reread part of your post and it sounds more like you are not following through with your body after release, putting pressure on your arm , hyperextending your elbow, try to follow your shot with your body keeping your elbow bent through the throw, letting momentum do its thing.....thats only part of it though....point of release, where is your hand in relation to your body when you throw? are you on your toes or your heels when you release?? good luck

i am 32 years old and have been playing 8 years

The trauma to your elbow is accompanied by inflammation. You can reduce this inflammation by icing it for 15-20 minutes at a time, taking Ibuprofen, keep the injured area elevated for periods of time and you may have to learn side-arm or throw with your left arm till it heals.

If you see a doctor, a sports medicine specialist would probably be best.

Sounds like you feel the pain isn't worth going to the doctor for, but I've read tons of posts about guys who have had injuries and had to sit out for a year and get metal plates put in their arms and adopt a completely new technique, sidearm only, backhand only, from right to left. So definitely be really careful, if it hurts a bit on a regular basis "1/4" the time, but nothing too serious, it could just take one throw to go above the avg pain and seriously hurt something. You said you'd keep that in mind, just wanted to reinforce it.

i have the same problem . its caused by hyperextending your are at realese. my dr. took xrays and i have a bone spur, very common to bone surs people get on ther feet.



cdale:

i will second the idea and would wager the problem is probably hyper-extension of the elbow or twisting of the elbow during the extension (not sure of what this has a name or would still fall under hyper-extension).

within the past year and a half i have worked with 6 individuals that have experienced very strong shooting pain in their throwing elbows and have helped them fix it. for most of them, they had been throwing with the same basic form for a couple of years and started having problems once their D started breaking the 375' mark.

without seeing you throw i can't say for sure, but generally this is caused by a wrist roll over as you enter the elbow extension, usually as compensation for one of a variety of factors. my first recommendation is to take a stable putt & approach disc and try to match your follow through angle with your release angle as a common source of this is for people to start with a hyzer and follow through flat or with even more torque over and a low follow through. as for this, if you are throwing with 30 degrees of hyzer, try and follow through with your arm 30 degrees above "flat" when it is parallel to your chest and extended. think of it as a continuation of the plane. you will not want this on all shots, but if your #1 concern is to stop the pain, then this is where i recommend starting out. if your disc is wobbling or diving over to the right, it is probably a torque issue.

if this is indeed the problem, then the goal is to try and isolate why you developed the compensation. here are a number of common factors that could be the source:
1) you are not getting your weight forward and over your pivot foot and using torque to keep the nose down.
2) as you developed your throw you were trying to force the disc to turn/s-curve rather than letting it happen due to speed/nose angle. practicing with a putt & approach should weed this out if it is the problem.
3) you are throwing a disc that is too heavy/overstable and trying to force a flatten/turn. if you let me know what discs you are throwing as well as your line of choice (flat line drive, line drive s, hyzer flip s, flattened hyzer, anhyzer s, etc.) and disc height i can probably have a better idea if this is the problem. stepping down a disc or throwing flatter or committing to annie from the start may be the solution to this if you are comfortable with specific discs.
4) you are not leading enough with the legs and letting yourself strong arm the throws. the more power you try to put into it with your arm (and less with legs) the more apt you are to have your body continue in ways that are not part of the natural range of motion (if the motion was all incidental).

while in the long run, knowing how to utilize torque/follow through angles, etc. will be important to shot mastery and skill development. however, your default controlled golf D shot probably shouldn't have this as a major factor due to the injury possibility. once you do pinpoint it and try to make the said changes, chances are you will KNOW it when you revert back to the old style (several of the people i work with occasionally torque over too much and end up cringing and holding their arms afterwards).

returning to something i mentioned earlier is to really practice throwing D with putters... they will fly how you throw them and you can use them to really see what is going on. as a rule of thumb, if you are breaking 400' with drivers, you should be able to throw a stable putter (wizard, aviar, magnet, challenger, etc.) at least 275', and more likely upwards of 300'.

26 years old here, playing one year

A side note about bone spurs.
As far as I understand it, bone spurs are created when the "connector-muscles" are pulling too hard or improperly on the bone. Bone spurs can be removed surgically, but CAN grow back as a result of not fixing the original problem with the muscles. If your doctor wants to cut and medicate only, get a new doctor! Maybe a kinesiologist. Just make sure to fix the problem, not the symptom.

Played 3 flip up double rounds up at Bud Hill today and tried to focus on staying in the same plane through the whole reach back, rip, and follow through. Only had the pain 3 times all day. 2 of those were in the first couple holes. I really tried to stretch before I started. Once I got warmed up everything seemed to be fine.

I haven't played a round in about 4 weeks due to the cold temps outside(not to be a whiner), but I do have a top secret location which is heated where I can practice up to 40 ft. putts. I have been throwing 300 putts in each practice session at least twice a week for about 4 weeks. I haven't thrown a drive in that same time period. Unfortunately, I am having alot of pain in the area of my elbow where the forearm muscle is attached (tendon?) to just below the elbow. I think it might be like a "tennis elbow" problem. Any good ideas out there on how to get it "rehabed" before I get to start throwing long again. I'm an old man of almost 46 yrs.

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I swear by this!

my arm sometime hurts when I snap my wrist really hard I can average 450 easy on a calm day but I realy have to watch my body to make sure I dont injure myself I try and do alot of push ups and sit ups core muscle is a large part of the picture.I am only 5 10" 149 lbs so I have to use everything I have to crush big drives over 400"

Had elbow pain for a while. Wore one of those tennis elbow bands for a couple months. Felt better after that and the pain never returned.... so far.

-tB

Thanks. I'm going to try one of those tennis elbow straps.

I had my first DG injury (lateral forearm - tennis elbow type pain) in 7+ years (of playing 4-5x/week) last Summer and did some research here in the archives. I took the necessary time off for healing & I changed my style of driving - as I found I was doing some things that contributed to my injury.
For me, a bent elbow technique (as opposed to a straight reach back) allowed me to drive w/o pain as it increased my attention to my follow~thru...though I've mainly rested it with less than 10 rounds played in roughly 6 months. I did do a lot of field practice and worked at developing a sidearm shot, too. I'm now pain free whether driving in my new or old style, AND itching to get back into the flow...

Stevev - PM me if you want more info.

I haven't had any pain in several months. I'm not sure what I changed if I changed anything, but I'm happy to see the pain go!