(Editor”™s note: Golfers, are you more than just sore when you come off the links? Do you find yourself in pain ”“ and not just from looking at your score? Physical therapist Lize Lubbe of Lize Lubbe Physical Therapy, offer tips on how you can enjoy your game without the aches 🙂
Playing golf requires your whole body to function as a unit. It is crucial to combine conditioning, flexibility, strength, stability and balance.
The most common golf injuries occur in the back, wrists, elbows, shoulders and knees due to repetitive movement during a golf swing. We will focus on back injuries in this article.
Weak glutes and abdominal muscles are common among club golfers and frequently cause poor performance. With each golf swing, your body undergoes a combination of rotational, compression, stretching and shearing forces that can result in back pain due to weakness in your core and gluts and a lack of flexibility. Poor swing mechanics result in back injuries and pain as well. This often stems from the inability to employ a proper arm swing, but most commonly poor mechanics are due to poor sequencing and the inability to separate the movement of the upper and lower body.
Golf-related Injuries can be minimized by 1) developing proper technique, addressing any structural challenges and developing a good, individualized game plan; and 2) mitigating your physical limitations ”“ tightness, weakness and functional balance instabilities.
The following conditioning tips will address your physical limitations and reduce the risk of back injuries:
- Stretching. Seated in a chair:
Bend from the waist down to the ground, stretching out the lower back.
Straighten one leg out with your heel on the floor. Flex your foot and gently lean forward with both hands toward the ankle of your flexed foot. Feel the stretch in your knee and calf and behind your leg.
Cross your right ankle over your left knee and lean forward toward your right foot until you feel the stretch in the right buttock.
Repeat on the other side. Do the stretches 10 times on each side, holding each pose for 20 seconds.
- Strengthening:
Lie on the ground, knees bent and feet flat. Tighten the core muscles, tilt your pelvis toward your chest and slowly raise your buttocks in a bridge position. Add a small ball between the knees and squeeze the ball as you raise yourself. Do this 10 times, holding the raised position for five seconds each time.
- Warming up:
Stand in a semi-squat position with feet shoulder width apart. Hold a 3- to 5-pound weight with both hands and transfer you weight from your right leg to the left leg while keeping your core and gluts tight. Rotate from your hips, mimicking a golf swing, but keep the weight below shoulder level.
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