What are some of your views concerning some of the positions, motions, or actions that tend to cause trauma or pain to the BACKS of golfers, during the golf swing(stroke).
I often hear about certain positions, swing techniques, etc. that can be harmful, but seldom hear detailed explanations on this.
The old "REVERSE C" used to be one thing that got criticized.
I'm looking for a little more detail.
p.s.-- an elbow, shoulder, neck, wrist, and knee category might be good also
Hey lagster, Finally, after a bout of some mysterious yech! and then a long standing business trip I am back to the work of TGM. As you can imagine, I could write volumes about the things that you could do to injure your body in the golf swing. In fact I've tried to create something that looked exactly like what I thought you wanted to know. What I realized is that I am only repeating what I have seen since I have only played with the instruction of TGM, really no previous exposure to holding a golf club. I watch the golf channel and cringe often enough but it is second hand reflection at best. I do know that TGM offers the best tools to apply the perfect stroke and avoid injury and I like to suggest that over time, if you are really engaging the theory of the little yellow book you are changing most of the 'bad' behaviors. Besides, it's never good to dwell on 'bad' behavior.
With that said you can always create a potential for injury if:
1. You don't have the level of health required for our sport. The fact is it is repetative motion and to expect your body to recover between shots and between games means that you expose it to the more preferred balance of tension Yes, every golfer hsould have a stretching program specifically addressing their physical gifts, limitations, and life experiences.
EX: Since I have fused cervical and thorasic vertebrae from a car accident I have very specific stretches and motions I perform after about every tenth swing and literally every night. Do I have to do it every night? Certainly not. But I found out that ten minutes in the floor kept me out of pain no matter how much fun I had. So . . . seemed reasonable to me.
2. If you create your action from the little muscles of the shoulders and arms without the benefit of strong core muscles, those includeing: chest, back, abdominals, glutes, quads and hamstrings. Yes all of those muscle make up the core and should initiate your action and then you rely on the smaller muscles to manage and refine the action. That doesn't mean you have to have the greatest physique or the biggest pecs on the course (Tiger is lean and mean) but you have to have an understanding of your own physical intention when you address , start up, back stroke, top out and then start down in your swing; incidentally whether you are a swinger or a hitter. Your tricep muscle is incredibly instrumental in creating a hitters drive but the action is initiated from it's primary muscle, the pectoralis. One of the best ways to understand this is to go through the motion without your club in your hand, as suggested in chapter 9; Learn your body.
3. You are not balanced in your alignment. If your original posture is not as close to correct, the original blueprint, as you can get it, then you are continually having to over-come this in order to create the movement you want. Ex: If you want to be a hitter but your shoulders are rounded through years of success but you find that you start getting a shoulder pain, then something in your own physiology is getting in the way of the application of your sport. Not impossible to correct; not for the golfer's I know. It just means a little more attention to your body off the course. Again, find the balance in your present health, a flexibility program, resistence training, cardio and watch the quality of everything improve!
Sorry to be so long winded. Between the freeze last week (it was 66 degrees one week later) a cold or something, a business trip and lost cable on Sunday (Buckhead community raised cain for the loos of every conceivable power over the freeze so there's much repair going on here)
I've had much to say. Glad to read your post on DDL.
Let me know how you are coming. Let's move on to the next stage and thanks for the PM. I intent to address that tonight and tomorrow.
Could you also give a brief description of positions that golfers can get into that can really potentially cause problems with the body. For example... Mr. Woods, Hank Kuehne, or someone recognizable as an example, so that if asked that question, one can have a response that students understand.
You might notice that I have avoided this. Ok, ok No is my answer. I can't critique anyones swing. I really can't. I know Tiger has a hidiously, painfully crippled swing. . . but the boy is good. How long will he play. Maybe it doesn't have as much to do with his swing as it does with the fact that he came into the game with these habits but, unlike the majority, he was also young and prone to fitness. Do you know that he trained with the women's volleyball coach for a period of time to allow his body to perform aerobically and kinetically in his 'favored' method? All I know is that TGM eliminates most of the repetitive motion problems that will show up in any repetitive action. Historically, golfers are not the most athletic physical specimines in the sport world. Even though this fact is changing, most recreational golfers are not as focused on their fitness as they are in their careers, family and civic responsibilities as less demanding sports.
Demanding you may ask? ... well what other sport takes 4 hours at a time. What other sport requires so much repetitive, precision oriented activities? What other sport causes more family conflicts? (I hope this is changing.)You could argue that tennis requires more repetitive motions but the number of recreational players, that really want to be competitive, is smaller. Golf is the recognized monster in growing sport interest.
I have just started looking at the golf community with new eyes. It may be some time before I can give you the answer you want but I can tell you . . . TGM is the solution. I have about 40% of my clients that are moving their lifelong patterns to the more preferred TGM (remember all of my private client are over 50, that's a lot of golf). We are experiencing great results between the exercises and the better geometry.
I will eventually post a whole article about this. I put it in my private file. thanks for the question and thanks for your patience.
There are probably a hundred or more things that could be included in an answer.
Biomechanically, I'm not sure the golf swing is the healthiest thing in the world for the back, but then again, sitting isn't so great for it, either!
Basically, from head to toe, if even one joint or segment does not have the mobility or stability to allow a golf swing, there will be a degree of stress introduced into the system. Now, this stress may cause pain locally in the offending body region, but it may also transmit the stress elsewhere, particularly the spine.
In my opinion, many "swing faults" are in actuality biomechanical faults (i.e. "body" faults). This may explain the golf students who seem to understand what the golf pro is attempting to teach them, yet cannot seem to produce the swing changes. In other words, knowing Tiger Woods' swing in great detail does nothing for most of us, because few people have his degree of flexibility, speed, strength, etc.
I think that many of today's pros swings look so smooth because they have "efficient" body motions. All you have to do is see someone with really tight hamstrings, or hip flexors (a common finding) swing a club, this is the person who can't seem to "get through" their hips, which can give a rather jerky appearance through impact.
There are probably a hundred or more things that could be included in an answer.
Biomechanically, I'm not sure the golf swing is the healthiest thing in the world for the back, but then again, sitting isn't so great for it, either!
Basically, from head to toe, if even one joint or segment does not have the mobility or stability to allow a golf swing, there will be a degree of stress introduced into the system. Now, this stress may cause pain locally in the offending body region, but it may also transmit the stress elsewhere, particularly the spine.
In my opinion, many "swing faults" are in actuality biomechanical faults (i.e. "body" faults). This may explain the golf students who seem to understand what the golf pro is attempting to teach them, yet cannot seem to produce the swing changes. In other words, knowing Tiger Woods' swing in great detail does nothing for most of us, because few people have his degree of flexibility, speed, strength, etc.
I think that many of today's pros swings look so smooth because they have "efficient" body motions. All you have to do is see someone with really tight hamstrings, or hip flexors (a common finding) swing a club, this is the person who can't seem to "get through" their hips, which can give a rather jerky appearance through impact.
I saw a guy on TGC the other day that was talking about some of this.
He said women, especially, due to their physical makeup tend to have several weak areas or problem areas in making a golf stroke.
I believe he said men, in general, tend to have weak medial glutes.
I saw a guy on TGC the other day that was talking about some of this.
He said women, especially, due to their physical makeup tend to have several weak areas or problem areas in making a golf stroke.
I believe he said men, in general, tend to have weak medial glutes.
What do you think?
Um, how do I answer this delicately? From what I see, I am shocked at how tight and weak many people are - man OR woman. Of course, it's probably just the tight and weak who get injured, and then have to come see me for treatment. Relatively simple activities, such as lunging or kneeling movements, cause people to almost fall over! The typical low back pain person simply overuses their backs for certain activities, particularly lifting. To add insult to injury, we tend to sit too much, which KILLS the back. I believe movement has tremendous powers, and we were designed to move, not sit in front of a computer screen or television. Posturally, we tend to develop muscular imbalances, that uncorrected, will lead to skeletal changes that are difficult to impossible to correct.
The good news is, it doesn't take much to restore the mobility and stability. In fact, with my own clients, I usually focus primarily on flexibility/mobility in the initial stages, then progressively get them on a mobility and stability program to do at home. The second half or third of their treatment, I become more of a coach, monitoring and progressing their exercises. The exercises I have discussed with you via e-mail, require a certain degree of hip mobility.
Great responses on all of your posts physioguy. I especially like that you recognize that the body is enormously correctable.
In response to your TGC report I can tell you that it couldn't possibly be more abstract. Working almost exclusively with golfers over the last ten years has gleaned that there is no such thing as a specific generality. I would certainly not say that medial glutes are a man's greatest problem without recognizing that there were other muscle disfunctions that set up the quicker disassociation of the medial glute. In terms of women, I think the biggest problems have more to do with the evolution of the sport than anything.
The truth is that every 'body' has it's own genetic origin, daily life challenges, and lifestyle misalignments. And still, caught early enough, there is no reason that alignment can't be restored and maintained.
I believe that the body is designed to stand, sit, golf, run, and take almost any abuse you can dish out provided it is then given the time and the appropriate movements to recover and correct the impact of the activity.
As golf fitness becomes more mainstream you see and hear of much less injury and treatment in the pro circuit. But do recognize the amount of treatment and training support the pro's afford themselves. Have you ever been on a pro tour bus? It is purely set up to restore the player for the next game.
Instead of focusing on such general expectations of difficulty I think everyone would be better served to look at balancing their fitness efforts with respect to the time they are willing to committ. Many posts have already said this. There is just not a magic bullet that fits everyone. Some people are naturally more flexible and they don't have to spend as much time stretching but usually even in this case one portion of the body needs more attention than another. Sometimes this is predicated by the activity of the day, whether it is sitting in a car all day or being on the golf course or playing with kids. Every day and every workout will have some similarities and some redundancies but no two activities will call for the same recovery; that applies to strength training, aerobics and diet too.
The truth is that every 'body' has it's own genetic origin, daily life challenges, and lifestyle misalignments. And still, caught early enough, there is no reason that alignment can't be restored and maintained.
Here is an abridged extract from Henry Cotton’s book This Game of Golf that may be relevant.
Towards the middle of 1933, after ten years of professional golf, I noticed my spine bent over to the right and tilted forward owing to hours and hours of golf practice and no contra movements whatsoever; in fact, I only had to try to stand still for an instant for my right side to slump down, as can be seen in the photo taken with Walter Hagen that year. Once I realized how deformed I had become, a sort of deformation de métier* as the French say, I began to do corrective exercises.
I had my measurements taken, and started in earnest to get back to the normal position I had so long lost. This meant building up my muscles to hold the tilting spine. I worked hard at my exercises all through the winter of 1933-34, and, by the spring of 1934, I was already much better, I continued with exercises regularly until the war, doing contra movements to build up the muscles which were stretched on one side only.
Hybrid Mode
