Swing Faults that Can Cause Low Back Pain Part 2: Early Extension
Last week I spoke about Part 1: The Reverse spine angle and how that swing fault impacts your low back and how it can create pain.
Today I will be talking about early extension. Early extension is one of the most common swing faults I see in amateur players of all ages.
What is early extension?
Early extension occurs on the down swing and is the action of moving your hips/ body towards the ball rather than rotating around your back and lead leg to get to impact. Early extension results on loss of your posture and typically leads to your low back not being in an optimal position at impact. This is a problem because at impact we need to absorb a significant amount of force. If we are not in a great position at impact we are likely creating added stress on the structures of our low back that are not able to handle them repeatedly.
Natural set up with line drawn perpendicular to the ground to establish a reference point
Here I have clearly moved up and into the ball rather than rotating around my trail and lead hip.
This is from a different video, and you can see here now close to impact my hips are staying on that line.
What causes early extension?
With almost everything we talk about TWO/THREE main causes for swing faults.
The FIRST is flexibility or mobility. How well do you move?
The SECOND is your stability: how well can you move around one hip or maintain control while moving multiple body parts.
The THIRD is similar to stability but more deeply goes into what you have learned for many years and locked in due to repetition. Lets say you swing a certain way because you have a tight hip. Well even if you get that tight hip feeling and moving better you may still swing a similar way because for several years or more thats what your body’s hardwired strategy is. We call that your motor plan for the golf swing.
Let’s explore the hips more!
If you have a restriction in your lead hip that does not allow you to rotate your body must find another path to get to impact. This is typically seen by early extending. If your lead hip does not internally rotate well then when you attempt to get into impact you will turn more from your foot, shin, knee and low back. The back doesn’t like this, neither does the rest of your lower leg.
Secondly if you deal with tightness or restriction in your trail hip( The hip doesn’t externally rotate)then when you continue to move closer to impact you may run out of room. Thus also causing compensation which could cause you to move up and into the ball to compensate.
Lets now address stability and motor control ( Two and Three)
If you lack stability around your lead leg you will make some form of movement that is compensatory. Early extension can certainly be that move. What happens here is that instead of rotating around your lead hip that requires more stability you simply move into the ball.
You may have fairly adequate mobility and stability however you may not have appropriately learned rotation through your hips and as a result as you attempt to rotate you actually push off the ground more and extend your hips causing you to move into the ball.
The big takeaways!
The big takeaway is that in order to best understand why you early extend you must first know what is the primary cause of your early extension. ( Lead or trail hip mobility are primarily the cause if its a flexibility issue)
If your hips move well then it is a stability or motor control problem and we need to give you the right drills to limit your early extension.
If you believe it is your hips then begin to work on your mobility and flexibility through active movements and stretches!
Here is one stability drill I love:
Reach out with any questions!
As always here’s to better golf!
James Ashcroft DPT, OCS, CSCS, TPI