Do You Get Mid Back Pain From Golf?

Many clients show me these stretches that cause them to wiggle around to try and stretch or decrease the mid back pain. I always ask if it helps them, their answers are usually the same. No, but I try to stretch andget rid of the pain.

What if I told you your midback was reacting to another part of your body that is out of alignment?

Let’s start at the beginning.

The golf swing is done from one side to the next, normally you use the same side. This tends to create overuse on one side. Overuse of one side musculature can create long term chronic pain.

Years ago, I worked with a client who was considering going pro. We did a lot of corrective exercise work, and her game improved a lot. In fact, her golfing friends kept asking her who was her new golf pro coaching her. Her answer was corrective exercise. We began balancing her muscles which cut down on pain and enhanced her game a lot.

Because you are constantly rotating (turning) in the same direction, muscles begin to tighten more on one side, now causing the loading joints to move out of anatomical position. Your loading joints are shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. They should be directly across from each other and sitting at 90 degrees in the joint. Here is a great example of what I am describing. This is Freddy Function from Egoscue Institute where I trained in Postural Therapy.

The round circles at each joint shows you how you should appear without any compensations and disfunctions. You can see that Freddy is well aligned and his posture is optimum. What if his posture is not optimum and now, he is out of balance? Maybe his hip is higher on one side, or one shoulder is elevated.

Here is an example of what I am describing. Notice the position of her hips. Her right hip is higher on one side than the other. This would cause, you got it. Mid back pain! Can this be returned to a normal anatomical position? Yes, it can and when she does postural therapy she will begin to heal, move more functionally and the mid back pain will stop. So how does Postural Therapy begin to change this painful situation? I like watching you walk; this is called a gait assessment. Through the years, I have learned watching how someone moves is valuable information. Your gait shows how you use your body and move around.

Then I take pictures of you showing your posture in four different positions. After the pictures, then comes the functional testing. I look for what you can’t do. This helps to identify what needs to change. It also leads to finding the root cause of your pain. Your root cause is why things are painful and you lack the correct function needed to play golf or any other sport. It’s a journey. Like peeling away onion layers. The programs are initiated on an app with video, pictures, and written explanations. It’s a method that is designed not to fail, if you do the work.

In the Month of March 2022, I am giving a 20% discount on sessions. With the weather changing, it’s time to shape up your game, get rid of pain and have fun blowing away your golfing buddies. Contact me at and make an appointment for your complimentary postural assessment.  

All the best, Carolyn Vanzlow