How to Deal with Back Pain from Golfing
By Sara Butler
If you enjoy a good game of golf, there’s a good chance you will experience back pain at some point. If you do experience back pain as a direct result of golfing, the best course of action is to address it as soon as you can. Putting off treatment can result in keeping you off the green if the injury becomes worse. Here is how chiropractic care can help you - and maybe improve your golf swing, too.
The Golf and Back Pain Connection
Golfing can be very demanding on your back. It requires twisting, bending and lifting. If any of those things are done in the wrong posture over and over, it can lead to some big problems and some big pain. The very nature of the golf swing exposes your back to stress, pain, strain and injury. If you don’t have the strength, flexibility or proper form for your golf game, it can result in low back injury.
A weak core can also lead to back pain. If your core is inflexible and weak, then all the stress of the golf swing will be placed on your lower back, hips, and glutes. Any kind of incorrect posture can cause your body to compensate in ways that aren’t healthy over the long term and will lead straight to pain.
Tips to Deal with Pain
One of the keys to staying healthy is to remain flexible and be strong. One of the best ways you can accomplish this while you eliminate and prevent pain from golfing is to incorporate a few core exercises and stretches into your regimen. Speak with your chiropractor to find out what dynamic and static stretches can help you to take your game to the next level. Also find out what core rotation exercises you can do to help add strength to your core to help better support your lower back.
It’s important to remember the only way these stretching and core exercise will help is if you do them regularly. You should do them at least every other day if not daily. Dynamic stretches require movement, and you can do those easily right before a golf match or practice to help warm up your body. Static stretches are stretches you hold for a period of time, and those are best done after a game or after a warm shower in the morning.
If you have pain associated with your golf game and you’re not sure what to do about it, start by consulting with your chiropractor during your next visit to The Joint Chiropractic!