Your Guide to Avoiding Golf Back Pain
Summer is here and it’s time to get back out on the golf course! While we all enjoy a great round of golf, our bodies tend to not love the constant rotational movements that go along with the game. While it may not be a contact sport, you can still easily find yourself feeling sore or being injured after hitting the greens. From swing mechanics to precision putting, twisting and muscle control can leave many with back pain after golfing.
Playing golf doesn’t have to leave you sore, though. We’re giving you our guide to avoiding golf back pain to help you feel your best and get back out there. With a few simple tips and lifestyle adjustments, you can take on the back 9 without worrying about being sore later. Read on, then get those clubs ready!
How to Avoid Golf Back Pain
Experiencing lower, middle, and upper golf back pain is a common experience for those who play the game. Golf is a game filled with muscle memory, and the repetitive twisting and bending can quickly lead to inflammation, muscle strain, or other injuries. Finding ways to avoid back pain after golfing doesn’t require constant trips to a massage therapist or playing fewer rounds. Instead, a few tips and lifestyle adjustments can make all the difference in the world!
A few simple ways for avoiding golf back pain include:
- Warming up your back before you play
- Finding ways to increase mobility and flexibility
- Doing core-strengthening exercises for stability and control
- Getting a massage
- Applying heat therapy after golfing
- Altering your swing mechanics
Warming Up Before Golf
One of the simplest ways for avoiding golf back pain is the one many golfers skip all together: warming up. You can’t expect your muscles to perform in top condition if you don’t give them the chance to warm up, loosen up, and become more flexible. Practicing a 20-minute warm-up before playing a round of golf can make a huge difference in your back health later on.
Dynamic warm-ups with active stretching are the most beneficial so be sure to include things like leg swings and pivot twists, as these motions help prepare your body to play the game and avoid back pain after golfing.
Increasing Flexibility and Mobility
There’s more to avoiding golf back pain than just stretching, however. To keep your body in the best shape, you also need to increase mobility and flexibility. Not only can these actors help prevent back pain after golfing, but they can help you avoid other common sports injuries, as well.
While many people lump these two categories together, they are actually different. Mobility references how a joint moves whereas flexibility is measuring the length of a muscle. Together, however, they go hand-in-hand to improve your overall health and wellness, making them crucial to avoiding golf back pain and other potential injuries.
Core-Strengthening Exercises to Avoid Golf Back Pain
We can’t talk about avoiding golf back pain without discussing core-strengthening exercises. While you should already be incorporating core-strengthening activities to maintain a healthy spine on a daily basis, they become all the more important to the mechanics of playing golf.
All too often, maintaining a healthy spine is overlooked during the course of regular fitness routines until it’s too late and an injury is involved. The fact is, over 80% of adults are likely to experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. On a golf course, you’re likely to swing your club roughly 50-70 times in an 18 hole round, meaning you’re putting your spine through a rigorous test of endurance. Don’t wait until it’s too late to practice core strength and improve your ability to avoid back pain after golfing.
Getting a Massage
After a great round of golf, another method for avoiding golf back pain is getting a massage. As we mentioned before, however, this doesn’t mean you have to run to an expensive massage therapist appointment every time you want to hit the course. Some of the best recovery tools for athletes are able to provide massage features from the comfort of home and are easily integrated into a post workout recovery routine.
For example, a luxury zero gravity chair reclines to alleviate excess pressure on the spine and enhance how the body heals itself. The bonus features of zero gravity luxury recliners may include massage, taking your recovery to the next level and helping you avoid back pain after golfing while you relax at home. Some zero gravity chairs with massage may also have other features to help deepen your relaxation and speed up recovery, as well. Providing style, comfort, and improving your overall health? Yes, please! These modern recliner options are ideal for people of all ages and lifestyles.
Applying Heat Therapy to Avoid Golf Back Pain
Keeping on our journey to explore ways of avoiding golf back pain, let’s talk about heat therapy. This alternative therapy for neck and back pain relief may help increase blood flow throughout the body. This increased circulation allows muscle and soft tissue to heal more quickly and can serve as a potential home remedy for swelling or inflammation that accompanies back pain after golfing.
Once again, athlete recovery tools like zero gravity chairs show their immense value as some models may offer heat therapy features, as well. A heated zero gravity chair could enhance back pain relief while facilitating faster healing qualities that get you back on your feet and onto the greens in no time!
Altering Your Swing Mechanics
Last, but certainly not least, when it comes to avoiding golf pain is knowing when it’s time to alter your swing mechanics. As we get older, our bodies require adjustments to do some of the same activities we enjoy. The same goes for golf, which can be an endurance test for spinal health. If you’re finding you’re unable to swing quite as hard or maintain the same motions as you did in years past, that’s okay! Find ways to make small adjustments to allow you to enjoy the game without having to deal with the discomfort of back pain after golfing.
In addition to changing up your mechanics, you might also need to consider upgrading your equipment. Maintaining good equipment is key to any sport. If you’re having to swing extra hard because your clubs have seen much better days, you’re setting yourself up for golf back pain that’s otherwise avoidable.
We hope this guide has given you a few actionable items to try for avoiding golf back pain. Getting out and enjoying a round of golf doesn’t mean you have to pay for it later. Whether it’s stretching before you play, adjusting your swing mechanics, or choosing a zero gravity chair to take care of your body after a great round, these tips will have you feeling great and ready to play again!
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