03 / Understand the area
Inside of the elbow
The inner elbow contains tendon attachments and a nerve that continues toward the ring and little fingers.
An educational guide that covers the left and right sides alike. Where it hurts is a useful clue, but only a clue.
A useful starting point
What this area can tell you.
Pain with repeated gripping or throwing may point toward a tendon, while tingling into the ring or little finger may point toward a nerve. The two can overlap, and the nickname "golfer's elbow" doesn't settle which one you have. Leaning on the elbow, keeping it bent, and any change in how well your hand coordinates are all useful clues. The exam is where we try to separate pain from loading the elbow from a nerve problem, or from something starting farther up the arm.
Notice the pattern
Three questions to bring with you.
You don't need to know what it is before you come in. These are details that help when you tell us what you're feeling.
- Is the main symptom an ache at the elbow, or tingling into the ring or little finger?
- Does leaning on your elbow or keeping it bent change the symptoms?
- Have throwing, gripping or hand coordination changed since the pain started?
When to get help sooner
Progressive finger numbness, hand weakness or loss of coordination needs prompt medical assessment. A hot, swollen elbow with fever or a major injury needs urgent care.
Follow the connection
Possible explanations. Better questions.
These guides cover conditions and patterns that may overlap with this area. Think of them as a place to start our conversation: no body map can tell you which one, if any, you have.
Elbow tendinopathy
Pain when you grip or lift, often called tennis elbow, and what the research says about the treatment choices.
Read the guide Condition guideArm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Read the guide Condition guideNeck pain
Stiffness, referred pain and nerve symptoms, and the questions our exam sets out to answer.
Read the guideWhat the studies found, and where they stop
How the research fits this area.
The elbow trial linked here studied the outside of the elbow, not the inside, and not ulnar nerve symptoms. It's a good example of why a familiar tendon label isn't enough to carry treatment evidence from one problem to another.
How we select and explain sources ↗Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Effect of corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia: a randomized controlled trial
165 adults with lateral elbow pain lasting more than six weeks.
What it foundSteroid recipients had lower recovery and more recurrence at one year than placebo recipients. Physiotherapy did not significantly change one-year recovery or recurrence.
What it can't tell usThe results apply to these approaches to persistent lateral elbow pain. They don't show that chiropractic care is superior.
Publication details & citation
Coombes et al. Effect of corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2013. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.129.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.
Your next step
Bring your questions.
We’ll start there.
Your answers to those three questions are where we start. We go over your history and symptoms, examine you, and explain what we found before we recommend anything. If it turns out to be something another doctor should look at, we'll tell you.
Anatomy: BodyParts3D, © DBCLS, CC BY 4.0. Model & rendering credits. Return to the full body explorer.