Unlearn the golf habits that lead to injury

Pro golfers keep more than a set of custom fit golf clubs in the bag. Among their team of specialist coaches, it’s likely that they include regular check ups with their chiropractor. In order to replicate a perfect golf swing time after time, they know it’s essential to keep their spine moving freely. That’s why they work with chiropractors and spinal specialists, like Dr Christian Farthing, to ensure their nervous system and spine is working as effectively as possible.

Of course, amateurs – from beginners to scratch golfers – can also benefit from regular chiropractic care. I’d even go so far as to suggest a player can progress their game much more effectively with the support of a chiropractor. Here are some of the typical golfing habits that can lead to an ugly looking score card as well as discomfort, pain and inflexibility for the individual golfer:

Tense and/or unbalanced posture

The desire for the perfect golf shot can override our ability to maintain a healthy, relaxed and balanced posture. Get the posture right, and you have a great foundation for replicating a good golf swing in even the trickiest situation.

Players who are prone to ‘slicing’ or ‘hooking’ the ball, however, are prime candidates for knee injuries as the movement of the ball is indicating the unbalanced posture throughout the golf swing. Again, working with a chiropractor will help you develop a balanced posture and keep you in the game, developing your drives, chips and putts.

Weak core and awkward bending

Perhaps one of the most common golfing injury is common or garden lower back pain. The combination of a weak core, combined with an awkward or over hard golf swing, will put a great deal of strain on the spine and the back muscles. Tiger Wood’s six pack is doing more than making him look good on the green – developing a strong core is a key component of a chiropractic approach to correcting the cause of back pain and preventing its recurrence.

The rotation of an unsupported golf swing can also cause bones in the spine to shift, making bulges, prolapses and herniations possible. Lower back disc injuries are resolvable – a diagnostic Xray will identify any subluxation (that’s a misaligned bone in the spine) prior to expert spinal adjustment will help make treatment as effective and efficient as possible.

Tight grip or frequent switching between varying grips and stances

An imperfect and varying grip will ‘tug’ on the tendons in your elbow. This has the effect of reducing blood circulation through your tendons, leading to inflammation (tendonitis) and finally to the formation of scar tissue and reduced flexibility.

Hyperextending to ‘scoop’ the ball up

Golfers try all sorts of tricks and quirks to get the results they want – including hyperextending backwards in an attempt to ‘lift’ the ball into the air instead of letting the swing and the club do the work. This creates a strain and tension on the pelvis, lower back and piriformis muscle in the buttock.

The symptom the golfer experiences is good, old sciatica – where the nerve is pinched in the spine and also within the piriformis muscle. The pain can be debilitating. While a GP might recommend pain killers, cortison injection or even surgery, a course of corrective chiropractic treatment will tackle the cause of the pain – drug free.

Hitting the ball “fat” or taking an excessive number of swings

Taking divots out of the golf course is inevitable, but cutting big chunks of turf will put an unnecessary strain on the wrist, leading to serious pain. Similarly, spending hours on the practice ground can be damaging too. Golfers should make good use of a coach to ensure they are building good golfing habits and see a chiropractor to understand what a poor swing is doing to their wrist.

Combination of grip, tension and movement

Combining a tight grip, with a tense body position and too much movement in the shoulders, elbow and wrist… Well, I feel anxious just typing that list of uncomfortable errors – just imagine how the body will respond! This can lead to a number of outcomes. Let’s start with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This is where the nerves running from the forearm through the wrist to the hand are trapped or irritated in the carpal tunnel (funnel of bones in the wrist). Other symptoms might manifest in the pecoralis (the chest), in the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder or in the forearm muscles.

All these symptoms could develop over months or years, so if a player recognises the bad habit but isn’t yet experiencing pain – preventative chiropractic care and golf coaching will prevent the symptoms from presenting.

Too much arm movement

It sounds silly – a golf swing has to involve arm movement, doesn’t it? Yes – but if a golfer is swivelling through multiple planes of movement, he or she will irritate the acromioclavicular joint (AC joint) of the lead shoulder. The pain and recovery time will keep a player off the golf course for a while, making a consultation with a chiropractic centre seem like a very good use of time.

Over reliance on upper body strength to strike the ball

Watch a professional golfer’s hips when they hit the ball. They rotate all the way through the strike. Now watch an amateur – the movement is much more likely to be  restricted to the shoulders. Using the shoulders and upper body strength to hit the ball is much harder work than using the natural movement of the torso and club speed to do the work. A typical symptom of upper body rotation alone will be neck and upper back pain. Resolving the problem will mean unlearning a ‘power swipe’ and developing mobility in your hips through corrective chriropractic care and spinal wellness techniques.

Tee up your appointment

If you want to know more about how chiropractic care can help you improve your game, I recommend you book a consultation with a chiropractor who specialises in improving golfing performance. A good place to start is Christian Farthing’s website where he explains more on his sports injury pages.