On Golf Injury Prevention

Anyone who swings a club can be hurt. Golfers, in the course of play, have many opportunities to hurt their back. Swinging the club, hunching forward to putt, bending down to pick up or put down the ball, repeat these movements many times in a game, several days in a week, you have a recipe for back pain.

Amateur golfers are usually injured by poor swing mechanics but older players have the greatest likelihood of injury and those people who play the most. Muscle strains are quite common because of the twisting that is required for a good swing. Tendonitis is also a common wrist injury and results from repititive overuse. Here’s some prevention tips from top golf fitness instructor Sean Cochran (www.bioforcegolf.com). He gives three steps to reduce the risk of lower back injury. In his own words :

* Develop efficient golf swing mechanics. This can be done through proper instruction, practice, and time.

* Implement golf fitness program into your exercise routine. This type of program will strengthen your lower back in relation to the golf swing.

* Monitor the number of swings you make with the club in relation to points one and two.

Cochran adds : “A lower back injury can occur if the workloads for any golfer become too high. Workloads are the number of swings you take within a certain time frame.”