Preventing Lower Back Injuries in Golfers

Lower back pain is by far the most common ailment suffered by golfers of all ages. Based on data collected at TPI from over 31,000 golfers, 28.1% of all players deal with lower back pain after every round. Lower back pain is also the most common complaint seen amongst professional golfers on all tours (data suggest over 23% play with lower back pain).

With golf though, the lower back is rarely the original cause of the pain. It might be the current source of the pain, but the pain more often comes from abnormal movement or forces from adjacent or distant parts of the body. The lower back ends up having extra load placed on it and is unnecessarily overworked to the point of injury.

Lack of mobility in the hips, thoracic spine, or even ankles and shoulders can contribute to the lower back being injured.

When you injure your lower back you can expect of the following conditions to occur:

• muscle or ligamentous strain

• disc injury

• fracture

• altered mechanics/motor control

• osteoarthritis

HOW DO I PREVENT MY LOWER BACK FROM GETTING SORE?

1. Normalise movement patterns

2. Optimise Swing Mechanics

3. Recovery

Normalise Movement Patterns

Particularly iin the hips and thoracic spine. Both these joints are designed for rotation (the lumbar spine (lower back) is not). So if you don;t have good rotation in these two areas, then there will be extra load place on the lumbar spine. Poor motion in the shoulder and ankle can also lead to increased loads on the lower back.

At Winston Hills Physio, the first step to optimising movment patterns in these key areas in the TPI Screen to identify what areas of the body are affected by poor or restricted mobility. Secondly, we will create an exercise program to help improve those movement patterns and reduce load on the lower back.

Optimise Swing Mechanics

Lack of mobilty in the hips and thoracic spine can lead to compensatory mechanics with your swing. An example of this is reverse spine angle, where your lower back extends back excessively to try and gain some more range of motion - all it does though is increase load on your lower back and cause more bad shots.

Recovery

It is very important to recover after a game of golf, or practice at the range. Good recovery will help reduce soreness, decrease inflammation and allow repair of muscle and joints. The componenets of good recovery can include;

• remedial massage

• nutrition

• sleep

• exercise

Want to maximise your golf performance? Book a TPI Golf Screen at Winston Hills Physio and take the first step towards improved performance and injury prevention. Book online at www.winstonhillsphysio.com.au/online-booking or call us on 9838 8449.

Look out for the next blog post on management of golf injuries!!!