Why Do Injuries Occur In Golf

Why Do Injuries Occur In Golf?





Injuries occur in all athletic events quite frequently, certain sports more so than others.

Golf is no different than any other sport. The severity of injuries in golf usually are not

as severe as in other sports. The scenario of a 300 lb. defensive lineman slamming into

the side of your knee tearing every possible ligament structure in the knee will never

happen in the sport of golf. An interesting visual if you combined the sports of football

and golf onto the same playing field, but inappropriate for this paper.

There are two types of injuries classified by professionals in the fields of athletic

training and sports medicine. The two types of injuries are: 1) acute and 2) chronic. The

above example of the football player is classified as an acute injury. An acute injury can

be defined as the trauma in the body occurring immediately after the injury. Refer to the

football player example above for a reminder. (For us older golfers, remember Joe

Theisman of the Redskins and Lawrence Taylors leg breaking tackle? Acute injury.)

Relating an acute injury to golf is a little more difficult. Probably the easiest, and maybe

most the common, acute injury in golf, occurs while swinging and you hit a rock or

something that creates an injury to your wrist. That would be the best example in the

sport of golf of an acute injury. Overall, acute injuries tend to be rare in golf because

contact by the body with external forces is rare.

My back is always killing me!

The second type of injury, chronic, is much more prevalent when it comes to the sport of

golf. A chronic injury is one that occurs over time. Think of it as a wear and tear injury.

These are usually the result of the body breaking down over time. A great sports

example outside of golf is when you hear about a baseball pitcher having tendonitis in

the elbow. Tendonitis is an inflammation of the elbow resulting from the stresses placed

upon it from throwing. Over time the elbow becomes tired and eventually injured from

the number of pitches thrown. If you are a runner and, after a certain amount of time, your

knees begin to hurt, this is usually a chronic injury. When we talk about golf, the majority

of injuries are chronic. They tend to be a direct result of the golf swing (just like the

pitchers elbow). Usually the chronic injuries in golf show up in the lower back. If

chronic injuries are caught soon enough in the cycle, rest and proper treatment (i.e.

massage, chiropractic care) will heal them. But if you wait too long the body is going to

break, and then you will not be playing any golf for a long time. This is where the

unfortunate situation of surgery and other invasive procedures are considered.

So a couple of questions we must ask when it comes to chronic injuries in relation to

golf are: how do they occur, and how do we prevent them? Chronic injuries occur as a

result of the body becoming fatigued and eventually breaking down. The muscles,

ligaments, and tendons of your body are required to perform the activity of swinging a

golf club. Over time this activity causes fatigue within your body. As the body continues

to fatigue, or get tired, the body gets sore. This is the first indicator of a developing

chronic injury. If you continue with the activity youre participating in, with soreness in

the body, eventually your body will break down. This break down will be in the form of

maybe a pulled muscle, muscle stiffness, tightness, or some other type of inflammation.

All of the above examples are a result of structures in your body breaking down from

fatigue and overuse. Even if just on one swing you feel your back go out, nine out of ten

times it is a chronic injury, and that last swing was the piece of straw that broke the

camels back.

How to Prevent Chronic Injuries in Golf

We all know that the golf swing is a repetitive movement, meaning the body is

performing the same activity over and over again. This creates fatigue in the body over

time. And if over time our body cant support the number of swings we are taking, it is

eventually going to break down. There are three variables we have when it comes to the

prevention of chronic injuries in golf. Number one is workloads. Workloads can be

defined as the number of swings that the body takes with a club over a given period of

time. That time frame can be seven days or an entire tour season. Number two is

efficiency of your mechanics. When we say efficiency of mechanics we are talking about

how biomechanically correct your individual swing is. Why is this important? you ask.

Let me tell you. I think most of us would agree that the tour players have very efficient

swings; their swings are smooth and look almost effortless. A swing like this asks less

out of the body to perform and requires less effort from the muscles; hence fatiguing

levels in the body are lower. Some amateur swings look like they take a lot of work to

perform, and in reality they do! These types of swings ask a lot more out of the body and

fatigue it more quickly. The final variable is what we term golf strength. Golf strength is

a measure of the required levels of flexibility, strength, endurance, balance, and power

to successfully support the mechanics of the swing. Large amounts of golf strength allow

the body to support an efficient swing. Low levels of golf strength do not provide the

support needed for the swing.

Workloads, Swing Mechanics, and Golf Strength

All three of these variables work together to determine if you are a candidate for a

chronic golf injury. Golf strength is essentially the foundation upon which your swing is

built. This variable indicates how many times you can swing a golf club with your

current mechanics before you come up injured. If you have high levels of golf strength

then regardless of how efficient of a swing you have, you will be able to play for quite

awhile before you get sore. The flip side can also be said. If you have low levels of golf

strength, regardless of your swing mechanics, you will come up sore in a shorter amount

of time.

Secondly, let us look at swing mechanics. If you are a player that has a very efficient

swing that places very little stress on the body, you will undoubtedly be able to play

many rounds before your body starts screaming at you. Again, if you have poor

mechanics, it is going to take its toll on your body and your game.

Finally, we have workloads (i.e. number of swings). The number of swings one makes

must match up with levels of golf strength and swing mechanics. The golf swing is a

stressor of the body and breaks it down over time. If you have an efficient swing, each

swing does less damage to the body. If you have a poor swing, the body has to work

harder, thus fatiguing it more quickly. In addition to this is golf strength. If you have high

levels of golf strength, you can swing the club more (i.e. workloads) before you get

tired. Low levels of golf strength present the situation of the bodys fatiguing more

quickly. So what is the magic formula? you ask. My first suggestion is twofold: 1) work

on your swing to improve the efficiency of it, and 2) increase your levels of golf strength

in order to support your swing. For the time being, match up your swing and golf strength

levels to determine what workload levels you can get out of your body. If you are in

need of some more information on the golf strength side of the equation, take a look at

www.bioforcegolf.com.

About The Author

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today.

He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil

Mickelson. He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing

improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the website

www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him at

support@bioforcegolf.com.