Golf is a fantastic sport that allows you to get some exercise, be outdoors, socialize with friends and family, satisfy your competitive itch, and it’s relatively easy on your joints – most of the time. Here in Northeast Florida, we have the perfect golfing weather the majority of the year and have a lot of people that golf year-round.
From the famous courses such as TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Club & Inn, King & Bear and Slammer & Squire at the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast to some of our local Saint Johns courses like South Hampton, Cimmarone, St. Johns Golf & Country Club, and Julington Creek Golf Club – there are plenty of great spots to play some golf.
Though the Jacksonville area has a lot of great golf and beautiful weather to do it often, this unfortunately means in a lot of local golfers suffer from sports injuries during their rounds. Research shows that about 16-41% golfers get injured each year. (1-2) This is only the numbers of injuries that actually gets reported and it does not include injuries that golfers decide to just keep playing with and not seek care for.
This percentage is likely to be even higher in the St. Johns area because many athletes and amateurs here golf all year long and not just for 6 months of the year. Either way, around 1/3 of all golfers will have a significant golf injury that will limit their ability to swing a golf club during the year and may cause them to have to sit out of matches, practices, tournaments, and rounds with their buddies.
Not surprisingly, the most common golf injury occurs to the low back which also is the most common location for anybody to get injured worldwide. After low back pain; golfers also struggle with wrist, elbow, forearm, knee, foot, shoulder, and neck injuries on a frequent basis.
In this article, I’ll dive into why golfing athletes are so prone to having low back pain and what you can do to treat it! As with most golf injuries, a combination of physical limitations and swing timing or mechanics are probably the main reason for injury. This is why it is recommended to have a great swing coach as well as a sports injury specialist such as a sports chiropractor who has good knowledge when it comes to the golf swing!
Treating Low Back Pain in Saint Johns, Florida
At St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance, we help active adults & youth athletes get out of pain quickly & rehabilitate their injuries so they can get back to doing what they love and playing their sport without limitation. Dr. Grant Speer is an expert at treating golf injuries and has an extensive background in treating low back pain in the golfing population. He is also certified by the Titleist Performance Institute which is the leading organization in golf fitness, injury assessment, and injury treatment.
We have helped many younger and adult golfers in Saint Johns, Florida with joint, muscle, and nerve pain and have given them quick solutions to help them recover faster from injury and stay away from pain!
Golfing With Low Back Pain Near Jacksonville, Florida
The golf swing is very demanding from an athletic standpoint. The swing requires a unique combination of balance, strength, flexibility, and mobility. From head to toe, joints must be able to move freely and then stabilize at the point of impact. This is in order to protect our joints and muscles and to hit the ball with force. Muscles and joints mainly in your feet, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, and wrists all must do their job and pull their weight during the golf swing or else another area of the body will get overloaded and have to compensate.
When it comes to low back injuries during the golf swing, it’s often that the low back is not actually a problem, but it is simply the site where the pain is located. This often happens because of a lack of mobility in the hips and the thoracic spine (mid-back) or because of a lack of core strength and stability during the golf swing.
The best sports chiropractor, physical therapist, or personal trainer near you will be able to put you through a thorough assessment and evaluation to see what exactly is happening with your body to create low back pain while you golf. Common low back injuries to golfers include disc herniations and bulges, joint irritation, muscle strains, ligament sprains, and even hernias on more rare cases.
How To Treat Golf-Related Low Back Pain
After being put through a detailed examination from a sports medicine specialist, this professional should be able to give you a diagnosis as to why your injury happened on the golf course and this will help point to what can fix it. Let’s take the most common example when it comes to low back pain during the golf swing which is hip and/or mid back mobility limitations.
Providers who are the best at treating golf injuries will be able to give different therapies such as manipulation (chiropractic adjustments), joint mobilizations, soft tissue therapy (massage gun, sports cupping), and sports taping (kinesiotaping) to gain more mobility and flexibility in the joints and tissues (muscles, ligaments, nerves) of the hips and thoracic spine (mid-back). They can then follow up this therapy with rehabilitation exercises (stretching, corrective exercises) to help to retain that mobility for the long-haul to help prevent episodes for low back pain in the future.
All while improving your hip and mid-back mobility, the sports injury specialist will be doing things to ease your low back pain and get you back onto the golf course as quickly and as safely as possible!
If you know someone who golfs in Northeast, Florida but is not able to play like they want because of an injury or pain; it is likely that they could benefit from our thorough assessment and comprehensive treatment approach. Please share this post with them or send them our way!
We are located in Saint Johns, Florida between CR 210 and Race Track Road, near many popular Saint Johns golf courses!
At St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance, we help active adults & youth athletes get out of pain quickly & rehabilitate their injuries so they can get back to doing what they love and playing sports pain-free!
Do you need a sports injury specialist in Saint Johns, Florida? Contact us today at 904-217-7078.
References
- McHardy A, Pollard H, Luo K. One-year follow-up study on golf injuries in Australian amateur golfers. Am J Sports Med. 2007 Aug;35(8):1354-60. doi: 10.1177/0363546507300188. Epub 2007 Mar 26. PMID: 17387218.
- Murray AD, Daines L, Archibald D, Hawkes RA, Schiphorst C, Kelly P, Grant L, Mutrie N. The relationships between golf and health: a scoping review. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Jan;51(1):12-19. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096625. Epub 2016 Oct 3. PMID: 27697939; PMCID: PMC5256129.
