Is Pain Affecting Your Golf Game

Is Pain Affecting Your Golf Game? I took golfing lessons when I was fourteen years old. The golf pro suggested I find another sport,

I frustrated him a lot.

Golf, like other sports takes a lot of concentration, practice, patience and a functional body.

In today's article, I would like to discuss improving your functional movements which will improve your golf game.

I am not an expert on golfing, but I do know a thing or two about movement and how poor movement patterns can sabotage your sport and cause you unnecessary pain and injury.

Let's start with what areas of the body begin to break down in function which will decrease your ability to play.

Starting with the low back. Many golfers experience low back pain and injury. I started looking around Pubmed, now known as PMC-NCBI

What I discovered was the numbers and percentages of golf related injuries and the differences between men and women.

In one article written in 2007, it seems women have less injuries from golf than men.

This observation doesn't surprise me because through the years, I have noticed men are allergic to stretching. You know who you are!

Here is a portion of a report I read written in 2014.

Epidemiological studies have shown that lower back pain (LBP) from golf account for between 18% and 54% of all documented ailments, leading many researchers to regard the condition as the most common golf injury.

As I continued looking for data I ran across a few other issues common to golfers.

Tendonitis in the wrist, elbow, torn meniscus in the knee, and shoulder issues.

If you asked me to identify issues of golfers with no previous knowledge of the sport, other than watching them play, here would be my answer regarding what body parts will be affected by golfing and likely to become strained or injured.

Neck

Shoulders

Wrists

Elbows

Low back

Hips

Knees

According to one article I read, there were five common injuries most experienced by golfers. My list contains seven issues. It's all relative because the seven issues I mentioned are still attached to the five most common.

I have to thank the golfers I have worked with. We learned from each other.

Golf is a rotational sport, which involves a lot of twisting the upper and lower body with repeated movement patterns in one direction. Doing this over and over will create imbalances which lead to pain and injury.

When you come in to my office or I see you on Zoom, I always want you to bring your favorite iron and show me your swing. Video taping this allows for both of us to slow down the video and really take a close look at how your body is reacting to the stimulus of your sport.

Keeping your structure in tip top shape is going to improve your golf game, working out at the gym, picking up your children or grand children, vacuuming, hiking, cycling and list goes on and on.

If you are 45 and above, my experience is you are already noticing aches and pains that come and go or remain on one side of the body.

Maybe you stretch a lot and that gives you temporary relief, but the pain keeps coming back.

What if you had a great warm up before you picked up the irons? Clients love the warm ups. Many of you ask me how you got so much stronger?

When you balance your muscles with Postural Therapy, you re-establish your loading joints and get them back to their 90 degree angles which allows you to move without pain. Guess what those eight loading joints are?

The same one's mentioned in the most injured section of this article.

Shoulders

Hips

Knees

Ankles

See how all this fits together. By re-educating your nervous system, you will begin to flow when you golf. You move easier, less pain, and your score improves.

If you want to explore this further, contact me and let's set up an assessment and see what you can do to improve your golf game and decrease pain. All ages welcome. I am a 71-ish competitive athlete and Postural Therapy has kept me in the winners circle, as it will do for you too!