Why Does My Back Hurt When I Play Golf? - And knowing when to get help
If you have been playing the game for more than a few years you have likely had at least one episode of low back pain that would have impacted your game and your life.
As we get deeper into the season we begin to start to further prepare for more club tournaments and championships, more charity outings with friends, and hopefully more time on the course in general. Unfortunately lower back injuries can you slow you right down, take you away from the course, away from friends, and significantly impact your enjoyment of the game.
Low back pain is by far the most common injury golfers sustain and unfortunately for those that do not seek care it can linger and leave people feeling helpless and hopeless.
Why do these injuries occur?
The most common answer is overuse. Have you have noticed pain or soreness after playing 3 rounds back to back to back vs. paying attention to how you feel with several days between rounds? Overuse is an individually specific phenomenon and is unique to your playing ability, playing frequency, age, medical history etc. When comparing the tour player, to an aspiring amateur, to the weekend adult player the definition of overuse will be different for each.
Variables such as sleep, nutrition, hydration, chronic disease, as well as other stressors all impact our ability to recover from a round of golf and ultimately impact our ability to have our tissues rebuild and get stronger. Folks that better manage their daily stresses, and better take care of their bodies will give themselves the best chance of bouncing back more easily.
The Second most common reason for low back pain is faulty swing mechanics. Faulty swing mechanics can create load on structures and muscles that aren’t best suited to handle them. I will dive deeper into specific swing mechanical changes that most often create problems for golfers in a future post.
Where to Start?
1) Reduce your frequency of playing/swinging
If you have been dealing with or have recently dealt with low back pain with golf it is likely that changing some of the above variables will help you feel better. However if you do not also temporarily change your repetition or “pitch count” you will be fighting an uphill battle.
To best optimize your swing count and volume it is best to consult with a health professional, preferably with golf experience. The next step is to take an inventory of how much you have been playing and make note of how relevant you feel that may or may not be to your specific injury. This will better help said professional.
Perhaps you were hurt in one freak swing? Perhaps its been a culmination of lingering tightness over the past few weeks or even months and now is impacting your game more?
2) Work on improving your specific mobility faults
Is your upper back stiff ?
Are your hips stiff ?
Are your shoulders not moving well?
3) Know when to get help - 3 Signs to Know When to Get Help
1) If you have already modified your activity, attempted some light stretching and you are not feeling significant improvement.
2) If you are experiencing any weakness in either leg, have numbness and tingling and/or shooting pain down either leg.
3) If you are noticing changes in your bowel and bladder function.
More to note
No matter what you are experiencing know that with time and with correct care almost all back injuries will get much much better! Our backs are strong and resilient and can withstand the forces we put on them, sometimes they just need a little help and pointing in the right direction.
Where can I start on my own?
If you are looking to move better and tackle your pain on your own start by checking out my recent blog on improving thoracic spine mobility. You can also check out my youtube channel here that has more exercises for your hip, low back, upper back and core.
As with any injury we need to give our bodies opportunity to recover. Another great starting place is by ensuring that you are getting a solid 7-9 hours of sleep consistently. You can check my more complete article on improving your sleep click: HERE
To the continued pursuit of better golf and better health!
As always reach out to me at james@ashcroftphysio.com with any questions or thoughts and I will be happy to help you!
Have a rocking day,
Dr. James Ashcroft DPT, OCS, CSCS