Fairway Fitness: A Sport’s Physical Therapist’s Guide to Scoring a Par Pain Free

Fairway Fitness: A Sport’s Physical Therapist’s Guide to Scoring a Par Pain Free

Introduction
Golf, a sport known for its grace and precision, demands a unique blend of strength, flexibility, and biomechanical finesse. Golf is a popular sport, especially on Long Island. The National Golf Foundation indicated a 2% increase in participants (500,000) during 2019, bringing the total number of participants to 24.8 million golfers in the US in 2020, with an additional increase to 37.5 million in 2021.
As a Sports Physical Therapist, I am acutely aware of the physical demands golf places on the body and the potential for injuries that can occur during an outing.

Common Injuries
Golf has a lifetime incidence of injury spanning between 25.2% and 67.4% amongst amateurs and 66% at the professional level. The most common injuries at the amateur level include elbow (24.9%), shoulder (18.6%), and lumbar spine (15.2%).
Nearly half (46.2%) of injuries reported are sustained during the golf swing, with 23.7% occurring at the point of ball impact, and the remainder of injuries occurring outside of the golf swing. A proper warm-up serves as a proactive measure against injuries by gradually increasing the heart rate, enhancing blood flow to the muscles, and elevating body temperature. This physiological preparation contributes to improved joint flexibility, allowing for a more extensive range of motion during the swing. Additionally, a warmed-up body responds better to the neurological demands of the golf swing, promoting enhanced coordination and muscle activation.

Golfer’s Elbow aka Medial Epicondylitis
This condition occurs due to repetitive stress on the wrist and forearm, particularly during the swinging motion in golf and gripping of the club. The pain typically manifests on the inner side of the elbow, impacting the tendons connected to the medial epicondyle.

Exercise Recommendations

  1. Golf Club Wrist Curls: Hold a golf club with both hands, palms facing up, and flex your wrists upward before slowly curling them back down, using the club's weight for resistance, to strengthen the forearm and improve wrist mobility.
  2. Golf Club Wrist Extensions: Hold a golf club with both hands, palms facing downwards, and extend your wrists upward, lifting the club with controlled movements to strengthen the extensor muscles in the forearms and enhance wrist flexibility.
  3. Golf Club Wrist Supination – Pronation: Hold a golf club with both hands, elbows bent at 90 degrees, and rotate your wrists to supinate (turn palms up) and pronate (turn palms down) in a controlled motion, using the club for resistance, to improve forearm strength and flexibility.

Shoulder Impingement
Golfers frequently encounter rotator cuff impingement, a condition exacerbated by the repetitive swinging motion inherent in the sport. The stress placed on the shoulder during each swing can lead to impingement, often manifesting as pain on the outer side of the shoulder. This underlines the critical role of thoracic mobility and rotator cuff strength, emphasizing the need for golfers to incorporate exercises targeting these areas to prevent impingement and sustain shoulder health.

Shoulder Exercises & Thoracic Mobility

  1. Cross Body Stretch: Hold a golf club horizontally in front of you with both hands, then gently bring it across your chest, using the opposite hand to guide the club towards your chest, feeling a stretch in the shoulder and upper back.
  2. Golf Club Around the Worlds: Hold a golf club horizontally in front of you, then slowly rotate it clockwise and counterclockwise in a circular motion, keeping your arms extended, to stretch and improve mobility in the shoulders and upper back.
  3. Lunge Stance Y: In a lunge stance, hold a golf club diagonally across your body at a 45-degree angle, lifting it with straight arms to shoulder height, engaging the shoulder muscles in a scaption motion for targeted strengthening and stability.
  4. Lunge Stance Rotations: Assume a lunge stance and hold a golf club across your upper back, then rotate your torso towards the front knee, utilizing the club for support and enhancing thoracic mobility through a controlled stretch.

Lower Back
The intricate and forceful motions of the golf swing can strain the lumbar spine, making golfers vulnerable to lower back injuries, prompting many to seek guidance from sports physical therapists. Beyond pain alleviation, a comprehensive approach involves assessing hip mobility and core stability to mitigate injury risks, as enhancing these aspects contributes not only to preventing lower back issues but also to refining overall golf performance.

Lower Back & Core Exercises

  1. Hip External Rotation Stretch: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart on the golf course, cross one ankle over the opposite knee, and gently lower into a seated position, feeling a stretch in the hip and glute area, promoting flexibility and reducing tension.
  2. RDL Rotations: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a golf club with both hands, hinge at the hips to perform a Romanian Deadlift (RDL), incorporating a rotation towards one side to enhance hip and lower back flexibility while engaging core muscles. To enhance the challenge, try performing on one leg at a time.
  3. Lunge Stance Chops: Take a lunge stance, holding a golf club with both hands, rotate the club diagonally across your body from the outside of one hip to above the opposite shoulder, engaging the core in a dynamic chop motion to enhance rotational strength and stability.

Conclusion
With golf's increasing popularity and the inherent risk of injuries, a proactive approach to fitness is paramount for a pain-free golfing experience. A proper warm-up is crucial for enhancing joint flexibility, coordination, and muscle activation during the swing. Specific exercises targeting Golfer's Elbow, Shoulder Impingement, and Lower Back issues, combined with a focus on thoracic mobility and core stability, serve as effective preventive measures. By incorporating these exercise recommendations, golfers can not only mitigate injury risks but also enhance their overall performance on the golf course.

References

  1. Golf Digest. The numbers are official: Golf’s surge in popularity in 2020 was even better than predicted. Accessed January 2023.
  2. Murray AD, Daines L, Archibald D, et al. The relationships between golf and health: a scoping review. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51(1):12-19. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096625
  3. Barclay C, West S, Shoaib Q, Morrissey D, Langdown B. Injuries patterns among professional golfers: an international survey. Br J Sports Med. 2011;45(2)
    . doi:10.1136/bjsm.2010.081554.12
  4. Robinson PG, Murray IR, Duckworth AD, et al. Systematic review of musculoskeletal injuries in professional golfers. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(1):13-18. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099572
  5. Thomas ZM, Wilk KE. The Golfer’s Fore, Fore +, and Advanced Fore + Exercise Program: An Exercise Series and Injury Prevention Program for the Golfer. IJSPT. 2023;18(3):789-799
Back to blog