Golfers’ Elbow: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Recovery
Dr Sameer Jain
January 13, 2026
Imagine you’re walking down the street, enjoying your favorite music and lost in the rhythm. Suddenly, you slip, and your knees and elbows hit the ground hard. Within minutes, the ache sets in, and you notice the skin turning red and slightly swollen. That’s your body reaction to this specific event in form of inflammation. So here comes the question in your mind, what inflammation is? Inflammation is a natural response to any injury, which activates your immune system to repair the damaged tissue. It is a vital process that helps fight against injury and infection to remove damaged cells and promote healing.
Inflammation is a beneficial process for our body that keeps us active and progressing in healing. However, inflammation is not always helpful; if it persists long-term, it starts functioning against us instead of healing. This ongoing reaction is known as Chronic Inflammation, which not only causes discomfort but also contributes to multiple serious health problems, from back pain and arthritis to diabetes and heart disease. It is crucial to understand how inflammation works and how it relates to pain. It is a powerful step towards recovery. With the presence of mind and your right strategy, you smoothly support your body’s healing process and reduce pain naturally.
Inflammation is your built-in response to injury. When your tissues are injured or irritated, your immune system (defense system) releases chemical mediators like Histamine, Cytokines, and Prostaglandins. These mediators promote inflammation and cause blood vessels to dilate (widen), leading to increased blood flow causes a sign of redness and pain.
There are two main types of inflammation: Acute Inflammation and Chronic inflammation.
This classifications help us in understanding how our body responds to different kinds of injuries. In actual both types serve as a mechanism of protection and healing in the body.Â
It is a short-term body response. It occurs quickly after infection or an injury and fades naturally as the body heals, with the noticeable signs of pain, redness, swelling, and warmth. These are normal indications that your body is working to repair itself.
This type lasts for months or even years. This occurs when your body’s defense system does not respond properly to stress, unhygienic food, or pollution. With the passage of time, it could damage your tissue, weaken your immune system, and increase the risk of chronic pain and illness.
While acute inflammation is necessary for the healing process, chronic inflammation does not go away gradually, it worsen the condition behind it. There are two signs, either visible or invisible. If it is in the acute phase, the symptoms are obvious. Pain, redness, swelling, and heat. But if it is in the chronic phase, signs are often more subtle (slight).
While in chronic inflammation, these signs could be very mild or invisible. You might wake up stiff, with unexplained body pain, or feel tired all the time.
Pain and inflammation are deeply interconnected with each other. When your body feels damaged, it discharges chemical mediators like histamine, cytokines, and prostaglandins that start the healing. Due to the release of these mediators, the area becomes more sensitive, which is why we often feel sore or tenderness.
Usually, once it is healed, these signs fade away, but in chronic inflammation, the pain doesn’t stop because nerves are sending pain signals to the brain even though there is no longer an injury.
Let’s break it down step by step to see what actually happens inside your body:
Inflammation is involved in many painful conditions, even those that do not seem related.
For improving long-lasting health and relieving pain, it is necessary to reduce inflammation. It usually involves a combination of daily healthy habits with medical treatment.
If we change our habits, it helps to reduce inflammation.
No, it is not always harmful. In the Acute phase, it starts the healing process at the site of injury with the help of releasing chemical mediators, which is beneficial, but if it persists, it leads to the chronic phase, which is harmful to the body’s defense system, causing damage and discomfort.
Signs include ongoing pain, stiffness, fatigue, and low energy level not improve with rest. It may affect the movements of joints, digestion, or overall health.
Anti-inflammatory foods include fruits like berries and cherries. Veggies like olive oil, turmeric, ginger, spinach, and fatty fish like salmon. These help to manage inflammation naturally.
Yes, it is helpful to reduce inflammation. Targeted therapies like physical therapy and guided movement help to calm inflammation, relieve pain, and improve comfort.
Inflammation is a powerful and necessary part of the body’s healing system. It is both good (healer) and nasty (troublemaker). In the acute phase, it protects you by repairing your body, but once it prolongs, it can lead to chronic pain and illness. So it’s very important to understand, you can manage your inflammatory condition through your diet, exercise, and proper medical care.  . You can take control of your health. Healing is not about quick fixes as it is time taking process. You don’t have to live with pain as something permanent. Always consider pain management specialist for proper guidance, care, and awareness, as pain management specialist will help you in reducing pain and inflammation.
