I have both muscle/ligament pain on the inside of my right elbow, and pretty signiicant arthritic pain caused by old radial head breaks on the outside of both elbows, but especially the right. Some of my interventions might help you in the short term, some in the longer term.
I have decided that Sram "double tap" shifting is much better for my right elbow especially than Shimano. It's kind of subtle, but the Sram down shifting (to a lower gear/ larger sprocket) in back is more of a wrist and finger motion than moving/sweeping the brake lever to do the same with Shimano. The Shimano - for me - requires more elbow rotation and exacerbates the right elbow pain.
My newest AXS Etap bike is even better for that. I told my skeptical self years ago that if electronic shifting would help this pain, I'd be all in, even though I'm totally happy with the performance and other aspects of modern mechanical. It's not enough of a difference to update my other two Sram mechanical bikes, and I'll always keep a mechanical bike for the ease of repair and replacement on the road (we travel with our RV for months at a time).
Braking from the hoods can also irritate my right elbow. I found that for longer and/or harder braking, I go into the drops and squeeze the lever from there and this is probably the biggest help for my issues. Again, with the new AXS hydraulic disc brakes, that helps a bit too. But not a huge amount compared to good rim brakes and I often have to resort to braking from the drops with the hydro discs too.
Finally, I've gravitated more and more to padding of gloves and handlebar tape. I have cushy handlebar tape with gel inserts on the tops. I also have a Shock Stop stem on my gravel bike. Those things also help.
It all adds up. It's still a pain, and some days are worse than others, but I never have to quit a ride. Of all those things, I think the Sram shifting and braking from the drops helps the most, with the Etap and hydro discs to a lesser extent. I really gravitate to braking from the drops on a bad day.
Last edited by Camilo; 09-04-22 at 02:26 PM.