Back pain is all too common in golfers. What many are surprised to hear is that  - for the most part - it is completely preventable. Additionally, once it’s occurred it's also almost always treatable without surgery or drugs. And no,  this doesn’t mean playing less golf or swinging less than 100 percent.  Biomechanically speaking, the golf swing is an unnatural movement. That is to say that, for many peoples’ bodies, it isn’t something we are naturally prepared for or equipped to do without wear and tear. I stress the word “naturally” because there are very effective techniques to prepare...

It is painful to know that 35% of reported professional golf injuries are back related. We often share that the golf swing is an unnatural movement, without an understanding of pain cause and effect in the back, injury can and does occur. Even professional golfers with teams of trainers and experts still incur back injuries.  We all want to avoid pain, we take many measures to manage and reduce it.  Of course, we are all motivated to get out of pain as quickly as possible. However, dosing pain with medication without listening to what your pain is telling you about...

To play golf without back pain, you need to strengthen the muscles that surround the back. Here are the best golf exercises that will keep your back safe so you can play golf without pain. This blog takes you through each exercise and the mechanics that will benefit your back and your game. Hands & Knees Upper Back Rotation Bird Dog Anti-rotation Bridge Side Plank Hands & Knees Upper Back Rotation A lack of mobility in the thoracic spine (upper back) causes over-rotation in the lumbar spine (lower back). This puts too much stress on the lumbar spine, resulting in...

There is still hope for playing pain free golf if you have arthritis or degenerative joint pain! You CAN PLAY golf with arthritis pain. Have you been told that you have arthritis, degenerative joint disease (DJD), or degenerative disc disease (DDD)? These terms basically mean the same thing. Doctors commonly use these terms to describe what are mostly natural changes that occur in the joints and spine.  The two major categories of arthritis are osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis. By far, the most common type is osteoarthritis, which is typically what we mean when we say “arthritis.” When osteoarthritis is in...

Learn how strengthening your upper back can relieve and prevent nagging lower back pain. The golf swing is the major cause for lower back pain. On the downswing, a golfer exerts up 20x their own body weight in force! Before the start of any rotational movement in the golf swing, a golfer needs to get positioned into their setup stance over the ball. To get into that proper setup position, you need to hinge your waist. This requires flexibility in your hips and flexibility in your hamstrings. Exercises like the Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift (SLRD), work to develop that flexibility. It...

Learn to relieve golf elbow pain and adopt proactive steps to prevent golf-related injury in the future We have all heard of it: the dreaded Golfer’s Elbow. In the medical community golf elbow is known as medial epicondylitis. Whatever you want to call it, it’s a common pain that interferes with your golf game and life. At times, it can even become so severe that it can make gripping the club extremely difficult and swinging a club nearly impossible. What is golf elbow? Golfer's elbow is a condition in which the forearm tendons that attach on the bony bump on...