Hand & Knuckles - too much golf!

[Cornbread]

Anyone else have hand & knuckel problems from playing too much golf!?

I play, or hit balls, 5 or 6 days per week. Lately its creating problems. You should see the knuckles on the lower two fingers of my right hand. They have swollen to be 60% larger than my others. Hurt like crazy too.

Anyone have any experience in resolving such. (And no, don't say to stop playing). For the past couple days I've been taking Aleve and Advil to assist in reduction of the swelling. Last evening I Iced them for a while as well.

I dropped my interlocking grip before yesterdays round. That helped reduce the strain & pain on them, and surprisingly I actually had one of my better rounds of the year. The hand pain kept me from over-swinging my backswing yesterday. Thats a good thing as I've been trying to stop that bad habit for a while anyway.

Anyone have some good medical advice?

[Rugger]

I'm kind of in the same boat, although I wouldn't say I'm in pain, just discomfort when it's bad..mostly in my left wrist. However, last weekend I was sure I had a stress fracture in one of my knuckles. I still might. Not much you can do about it though, just slow down the pace maybe. Take an extra minute between balls.

[holeinon3]

I don't see how your knuckles could swell up like that? Are you gripping it too tight?

[Cornbread]

I don't see how your knuckles could swell up like that? Are you gripping it too tight?

Trust me... they can. Age I suppose.

Not only do I play or hit balls 4 to 6 times per week... when I play late evenings, I generally hit two or three balls per shot. Last week I accepted the fact that i need to at least stop doing that to avoid wear and tear.

[Comeback]

I have the same problem, my right pinkie is swollen pretty bad. It hurts a little the first few holes but then goes away. I hit about 500 balls a week and i interlock my fingers.

[VolunteerGolfer]

I am not a doctor and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So take this for what you paid for it. Ibuprofren for the infalmation and maybe some glucosemine for you joints.

[popeyegolfer]

I had this same problem when I was hitting balls and playing that much. Most of the time I was hitting at the range with the mats. I think this was the problem as the impact of the blunt force from the mat. Once I switched to a driving range at my local course hitting off of grass this problem went away.

[Cornbread]

I am not a doctor and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Ibuprofren for the infalmation and maybe some glucosemine for you joints.

Thanks Doc.

[chilly]

My hands get a little "creaky" feeling if I've been hitting a lot of balls as well, not really sharp pain but kind of "arthritic". I've found bigger grips help quite a bit, and I'll do some stretching, seems to help.

[Cornbread]

My hands get a little "creaky" feeling if I've been hitting a lot of balls as well, not really sharp pain but kind of "arthritic". I've found bigger grips help quite a bit, and I'll do some stretching, seems to help.

Thanks.... mine are only getting worse. PC work all day (and night) doesn't help either.

[Cornbread]

Found a slight cure for my problem. I took some 1/4" wide strips of medical bandage tape and taped my pinkey and ring finger together. One strip on each side of the primary nuckle. Obviously I couldn't use my overlap grip, however the pain went away during my swings. There appears to be no extra stress nor pain after the round today either.
After hitting balls early this morning (before trying the tape) I told myself I was going to have to take at least one week off from Golf. Couldn't stand not playing later today so I tried the tape.

[pbillaa]

I have the exact same problem, My right middle finger get's totally swollen. I have found out its humidity related, no humidity, no swelling.

[Redstrom]

Glad I found this post and I'm not the only one.  I was out at the driving range a couple days ago and suddenly my middle knuckle on my right hand started killing me and I had to stop.  As far as I know I don't have any arthritis.  The knuckle just got swollen and very painful to bend.  It could be my grip because I interlock my pinkies.  I noticed that it puts more pressure on my middle finger to grip that way.  Once my knuckle gets better I'm going to try not locking my pinkies together and even out the pressure of my grip.  Hope that's the answer because I love golf and wouldn't want a small injury to adversely effect my game.

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by Cornbread

You should see the knuckles on the lower two fingers of my right hand. They have swollen to be 60% larger than my others. Hurt like crazy too.

Anyone have any experience in resolving such.

I play  A LOT.......

My ring finger knuckles are over-sized due to interlocking grip/abuse over many years of playing golf.  Luckily for me.....I have no pain, but the knuckle has definitely grown over the years.  I'm a lefty....so it's my wedding-ring finger that is all jacked up...LOL

[hacker101]

I went from graphite to steel shafts and went every day to the range hitting buckets at a time to break in the new clubs. After a few days i could not move my fingers in the morning and at night would wake me up. This went on for a few weeks, almost a grown man in tears each morning.

Could not stand it any longer and went back to graphite, not happy about it by no means. Have spoken to every one I could think of to see what could be done. There are very high end graphite shafts that from what I understand are great about $90 each that was an option?

It all came back to what i gather is age, at 50 + it seems that there are many out there dealing with this or have been that just gave up and went to graphite from what i understand so they can still play.  I went back to them for about 2 weeks now with no issues other then a little sore middle finger that is almost fixed. I was at RD last night and picked up a few steel shaft clubs just for the fun of it maybe a half hour, by the time I got home fingers where sore. As most know graphite is great for not transferring the shock to your hands like steel.

But I have been told to cut back on the range and do not use mates, that might help some not sure if I want to keep rotating clubs to find out. Each time I do this my game takes a hit instead of just getting used to them.

I also looked all over the Internet to see if I could find an answer, my wife spoke to our doctor friend of hers, very common i guess. He said stop playing or use graphite so I am using graphite.

If you find anything that helps please let me know i would love to return the graphite and use steel.

[leonard sly]

I too suffer from this, but just got my clubs regripped to mid sized and seem to be doing better with the soreness. Maybe bigger grips would help?

[hacker101]

Thanks for the info, I am no longer hitting off mats I have also followed up with a Doc friend who said he will come up with something if it continues, But I just posted in the last two weeks three of the wrorst round I have had in over 6 months. It was not my driving or putting all had to do with my irons with the graphite shafts could not hit a side of barn with them. Used my sons with steel played a back to back one with graphite first and one with steel I shot a boggy round with his clubs, I will not even tell you what i shot with the graphite.

I know some can control them but I cant and not fun learning at this point.

Had a great opertunity today to sit in the ping fitting room for about 2 hours and hit every steel shaft club they had at the store. It came down to the new G25 so they are ordered.

[inthehole]

I don't see how your knuckles could swell up like that? Are you gripping it too tight?

Hands were so sore after 1st year- just played thru it. Past few months developed a serious pain in the left index finger. Started taping the joints so I can't bend it - seems to help significantly. So much stress on fingers - seems like a part of game unfortunately