Anyone who golfs can tell you that golf is one of the most frustrating, addicting things around. It’s ironic that it somehow becomes more addictive when the game betrays you. Non-golfers wouldn’t understand that rimming out a 3-foot birdie putt somehow makes the game better when things really start to click down the line. It makes sinking that 30-footer on 17 that much more worth it.
However, there’s no worse betrayal than when the game betrays your body. There’s little redeeming quality to your back seizing up and leaving you barely able to swing- or in some cases, barely able to walk. There are some steps you can take to prevent this from happening.
Tip 1: Stretch and Warm-up the Right Way
Research has demonstrated that golfers with a lower range of motion are more susceptible to back pain because they’re moving their bodies in a way that is outside of what they’re prepared for. Stretching appropriately will reduce your injury risk and lessen the amount of stiffness in your body, allowing for a more fluid, healthy swing.
Tip 2: Are You Swinging Right?
Any golf coach worth their salt will tell you that a cleaner, relaxed, properly technical strike on the ball at the tee (and especially in the sand as well) is preferable to attempting to drive the ball a mile. When it comes to back health, it’s certainly preferable as well. Swinging with improper technique is the easiest way of hurting an otherwise healthy back.
Tip 3: Play Just Enough
Sorry golf lovers- but playing 36 in a day isn’t necessarily the best idea, especially if you’re newer to the game and don’t know how your body will respond. We all love a good golf trip or weekend of golf, but not overexerting yourself is a good way to keep from facing back pain later on.
Tip 4. Your Core Is Important
It’s no secret that prior to the fitness revolution in golf, golfers were not the most healthy-looking pro athletes. After all, there are not too many sports where having a beer and/or a cigar before, during, and after playing are considered the norm.
Golfers like Gary Player and (later) Tiger Woods changed the way golfers looked at conditioning after their wild amount of success on tour. A strong core helps to regulate the intense motion behind a swing and keep it under control, so it only makes sense.
The thing to remember before training is that the core is more than just abs- your core includes your hips, glutes, flexors, obliques and more.
Tip 5. When You’re Facing Back Pain, Come See Total Holistic Center
If back pain is already a reality for you, it’s likely that it may feel hopeless- you’ve tried every stretch and compress out there, but it always seems to come back to hit you at the worst time. Outside of golf, back pain may even be keeping you from golfing or enjoying other activities you like; even simple things like working around the yard.
There’s a solution- and it’s not surgery. Regenerative therapy is the way to get back to feeling like yourself again.
Regenerative therapy involves using injections to stimulate the body to heal itself. Unlike with stem cell transplants, there are far less ethical issues involved.
Total Holistic Center doesn’t just specialize in regenerative medicine, but a more advanced and specialized form of regenerative therapy called IRT- or Integrated Regenerative Therapy. IRT is different from other types of therapy because each solution is uniquely personalized and catered to YOU; and that’s only after extensive research on your body, your medical history, and your lifestyle. Unlike what Western medicine has become, IRT is focused on finding the roots to your problems and fixing those, instead of just putting a band-aid on your symptoms.
Why not give IRT a try? Give us a call at 561-323-4994 or click the button below and schedule a FREE one-on-one 15-minute meeting with our doctors, either virtually or in our Boca Raton location. We can’t wait to get to know you and help you get back to the game you love.