Who's had surgery for medial epicondylitis/epicondylosis? (AKA golfer's elbow)

I've struggled with medial epicondylitis (technically epicondylosis at this point) for about 8 years. I've done tons of PT/rehab. I did a few steroid injections early on even though I new they were a bad idea. I've done PRP injections, I even did PRP with bone marrow stem cell injections (that was fun and super cheap out of pocket). I've paid a bunch of money to highly regarded specialists who created training/rehab protocols for me. Nothing has helped except quitting climbing. I quit a few years ago for about 2 years, then was bored, bitter etc so resumed climbing at a lower level and slowly built back up, and I'm right back were I was with the pain. Anyways, I'm back at the point of either quitting climbing or having surgery for it. So who's gotten to this point and had surgery and what has your experience been? Any success stories? 

You've probably seen this but in case you haven't:
https://youtu.be/L0ECHTgc4TM

I don't recall if i had golfer's or tennis elbow, but I had surgery (after PT/rehab/PRP) and recovered 100%. Not even a twinge after completing rehab.

I’ve struggled with both. DM me if you want and I’ll send you what rehab exercises helped the most. Now completely pain free. 

E MuuDwrote:

You've probably seen this but in case you haven't:
https://youtu.be/L0ECHTgc4TM

I was going to suggest the same video. Definitely worth ruling out. 

E MuuD and Josh -  thanks for the suggestion, I watched the video. However I don't have any nerve symptoms, I'm fairly confident it is medial epicondylitis. 

Mine was a bit more of an acute injury. I know the exact moment it happened - did lots of PT to no avail. Finally had MRI & confirmed a partial tear of tendon at medial epicondyle. Had surgery that basically made a clean cut & re-attached with bone screw. Rehab took several months but that elbow is now stronger than the other one & zero pain. Find a really good sports doc - the guy who did mine was the surgeon who did all the baseball player elbow/shoulder work for a major university team.  Not quite the same injury but I sympathize with the nagging pain you’re experiencing. 

Thanks for the replies. Anyone else have experience with this surgery? 

Hi! This is the worst! I dealt with it for a year before I finally got surgery in 2016. It was the best decision I could’ve made. I have no complications. Unfortunately, now I am experiencing the same thing in my right elbow and I’m going to get the surgery in that arm. 

Hi! This is the worst! I dealt with it for a year before I finally got surgery in 2016. It was the best decision I could’ve made. I have no complications. Unfortunately, now I am experiencing the same thing in my right elbow and I’m going to get the surgery in that arm. 

I suffered from golfer's elbow for 3 years which I blamed on my not-so-advanced age of 31. Similar story as you, crushing rehab, therapy with no results. I switched from a very healthy(or what I thought was very healthy) plant-based diet to a very healthy meat-based diet. It took about a year after that switch for every single recurring tendinitis and injury I've ever had to completely melt away.

Check your diet and nutrition before you commit to a surgery.

Jo Garbswrote:

Hi! This is the worst! I dealt with it for a year before I finally got surgery in 2016. It was the best decision I could’ve made. I have no complications. Unfortunately, now I am experiencing the same thing in my right elbow and I’m going to get the surgery in that arm. 

What was the recovery time like?

@wilcox510

I’ve struggled with left elbow medial epicondylitis for 6 years. Started in 2019, no acute injury, just started hurting. Did every conservative treatment available, including numerous PT protocols…isometrics, eccentrics, progressive loading, strengthening other muscle groups, you name it. Finally in 2023 I had the surgery…simple tendon debridment with no hardware. Surgical notes indicated that the scar tissue was distal to the bone attachment, which I was told was more promising for recovery. The results were nearly immediate pain relief, and by a month after the surgery I was feeling ~90%. I was feeling so good that about 2 months after the surgery I reinjured the tendon because I wasn’t being careful. For the next couple years I attempted PT again and again, but experienced no relief. Just a couple months ago (May 2025) I had a second surgery. This time the surgeon debrided the tendon and epicondyle, and used a knotless suture anchor to reattach the tendon to the bone. This second surgery was more aggressive, both to bone and tendon tissue. I’m just shy of 2 months from this surgery and things are going well. Definitely more pain and discomfort than the first surgery but that’s expected. It will be at least a year before I attempt climbing again, but some people are back to sport 4-6 months after surgery. Honestly I think those recommendations are fit for other athletes. Climbing just puts so much load through the flexor tendon complex I think progressive loading over several months is prudent. The perplexing thing in my case is I’ve struggled with both medial and lateral epicondylitis on my right elbow too, but PT solved those, and when I have flare-ups I can get on top of it with isometrics. Something about my left medial elbow was just recalcitrant. As such, I think surgery is a good call for some individuals. Meta analyses indicate high success rates and overall good outcomes. But unfortunately there’s no published cases of rock climbers having the surgery. 

Would love to hear if you went with the surgery or not, and how your progress is going. 

Several months ago I was really training for slopers (wrist wrench) which subsequently caused a chronic elbow pain. Push ups used to work for me in the past but this time, no dice. Being too stubborn to quit I lived with it and tried many methods of "treatment" twisting, slow lowering of the hammer etc. etc. None of that worked. I recently saw a lattice video that discussed the best training exercises for climbers. The subject of lock off training came up, it was dismissed as a training method EXCEPT Ollie Torr said he still uses it because it has fixed elbow issues for all his clients who had them. So... I tried it...

Just 3 sets of 10 seconds at 90 degrees then lower and do10 seconds at 120  degrees, rest a minute.  Do both pull up and curl up positions. Been doing this every other day for 3 weeks and the issue is completely gone for me.  I will continue doing it for maintenance but I am still in shock at how easy it is and how quickly it cleared up my issues.

Matt Murphywrote:

What was the recovery time like?

3 months and I was back to climbing very easily and progressed from there…I’d say it was 6 months until I was back to pre surgery condition and 9 months until I was back to being my strongest. 

Jo Garbswrote:

3 months and I was back to climbing very easily and progressed from there…I’d say it was 6 months until I was back to pre surgery condition and 9 months until I was back to being my strongest. 

@Jo Garbs: did your surgeon use an anchor to secure the tendon? Thanks. 

Jo Garbswrote:

3 months and I was back to climbing very easily and progressed from there…I’d say it was 6 months until I was back to pre surgery condition and 9 months until I was back to being my strongest. 

My surgeon used an anchor to reattach the tendon at the medial epicondyle. My timeline was about 3 months longer than Jo Garbs, but I was also in my 50’s, so there’s that….

E MuuDwrote:

Several months ago I was really training for slopers (wrist wrench) which subsequently caused a chronic elbow pain. Push ups used to work for me in the past but this time, no dice. Being too stubborn to quit I lived with it and tried many methods of "treatment" twisting, slow lowering of the hammer etc. etc. None of that worked. I recently saw a lattice video that discussed the best training exercises for climbers. The subject of lock off training came up, it was dismissed as a training method EXCEPT Ollie Torr said he still uses it because it has fixed elbow issues for all his clients who had them. So... I tried it...

Just 3 sets of 10 seconds at 90 degrees then lower and do10 seconds at 120  degrees, rest a minute.  Do both pull up and curl up positions. Been doing this every other day for 3 weeks and the issue is completely gone for me.  I will continue doing it for maintenance but I am still in shock at how easy it is and how quickly it cleared up my issues.

Sounds like you're describing short isometrics.  I've had the most luck with isometrics for rehab - heard from someone else who said working up to a couple sets of long 90 degree hangs (up to 1 minute) cure their elbows and had similar success - eccentrics never seemed to help, just aggravated my wrists along with having sore elbows.

These injuries and treatments also seem really unique from person to person, no cure-all for everyone but that has really helped me - this was also after doing PRP and needle barbotage to break up scar tissue that has formed after 2+ years of tendinosis.

You have nothing to lose by trying the nerve gliding exercises. As somebody who has a lot of neurological issues, I can tell you that nerve entrapments don’t always feel like what most people think  a  nerve issue should feel like.

Travis Hansenwrote:

@Jo Garbs: did your surgeon use an anchor to secure the tendon? Thanks. 

Yes! @travis Hansen 

You have probably already come across this and tried it, but just in case: Dodgy Elbows Revisited.  This has been referenced here and elsewhere for dealing with epicondylitis so many times that it's almost a cliche at this point, but it's a cliche for a reason.  I will say that whether you get the surgery or not, it is super important to "prehab" your elbows using this same protocol (or at least it has been for me).  10 minutes twice a week has been super effective at keeping it at bay and it had been a chronic problem for me prior to that.