Golf is a sport that is great for various reasons! When the sun is shining here in Vancouver it’s a perfect sport to enjoy the great weather but to also burn a few extra calories from last night’s barbecue. Golf can be played at many ages, even into one’s twilight years in age. Many find the golf course the perfect spot to discuss important business deals or to simply to enjoy it for just the leisure. But at times too much of a good thing can cause pain in your body, especially if your golf swing is rusty or poor.
What are some of the common injuries from golfing?
- Low back injury: These account for most of the injuries related to golf and this would be approximately 30% of golf-induced injuries. This is generally due to strains and sprains of the muscles in the back.
- Inner Knee Pain/Medial Meniscus Pain: Because of their tight back muscles or joints, some golfers will try to generate more turn in their back swing so they will place more stress on one knee which can lead to knee pain/medial meniscus pain.
- Rotator cuff tear: Rotator cuff tears may result from either overuse or an acute cause. The swinging motions in golf are repetitive and this repetition can result in a rotator cuff tear. This happens because the muscles or tendons that surround the shoulder joint are torn or damaged.
- Flexor Tendonitis: Golf requires constant swinging which can cause an overuse injury. This will cause swelling in the tendons that control your hand movement, making it difficult to bend your fingers and move your hand or elbow.
- Injuries of the neck, shoulder, arms or the hips: These are the lower end risk of injury for golfers, but these areas can be aggravated because of poor posture or technique in a golfer’s game.
How we can help at Vancity Physio
It is important to have a full assessment if your injury persists more than a few days, early intervention will help to avoid long term aches and pains. A full assessment of your signs or symptoms will be gathered in conjunction of a full medical history to gauge the source of your injury. Your physiotherapist may provide exercises that overtime will strengthen and stretch your forearm muscles if you suffer from golfer’s elbow. If it’s determined, you are suffering from lower back pain, we will help to treat your pain and we will help to show you proper dynamic stretches to perform before playing golf to prevent future injuries. Your physiotherapist may have you perform exercises in the clinic or send you with exercises to take home. If you suffer from a rotator cuff injury manual therapy, exercises, IMS, or other pain reduction avenues can be considered to help treat your pain. We can also identify the areas in your body that suffer from inflexibility, we can show you how to develop more flexibility in this area which helps to ensure that injuries don’t develop in the future when you golf as poor posture can aggravate the inflexible areas of your body. We can also help to improve your posture and technique with your golf swing. As you can see, there is not one simple way a golf injury can develop so it’s important to get an assessment to get to the root cause of your issue. It is our goal to get you pain free and back on the golf course before the summer ends!
Book a consultation today: https://vancityphysio.janeapp.com/
Follow us on Instagram for more information: VanCity Physio (@vancityphysiotherapy).
