As most of the country is beginning to defrost after a long winter, your body may not be used to playing long rounds of golf or even practicing.
In preparation to swinging a club in the cold weather, many golfers fail to properly warm-up for a range session or their round and that can be a recipe for injury.
Common injuries among golfers affect the back, knees, wrists, shoulders and more. The back is not designed to rotate for a golf swing, so mobility can be a great place to start in your training.
Members of the NYU Langone Health Sports Performance Center team spoke to Golfweek’s fitness guru Averee Dovsek and gave some helpful tips on preventing injuries for golfers.
Contributors: Heather Milton MS, RCEP, CSCS, Jamie Nguyen MS, OTR/L, Monica Seu OTR/L, CHT, CLT
Staying on a regular exercise schedule can help prevent to onset of typical overuse injuries associated with doing too much, too soon.
For example: stick to two or three 3 days per week of resistance training and stretching to keep muscles tendons and ligaments ready to play when the season starts.
Don’t jump into your old habits too quickly.
If you’ve taken the winter off from playing, start at about 50 percent of the total play time that you left off with last season. Each week progress 10 percent until you are back to your previous playing schedule.
Golf balls on the driving range. (Photo: Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
Keep an eye on how many balls you are hitting at the range or on the course.
Some research shows that hitting more than 200 balls per week increases injury risk for some golfers.
A lot of power within the golf swing comes from your lower body.
Ensuring you have strength and stability in the hips and trunk will allow for more velocity to be carried through the club without relying on the shoulders, arms and wrists taking the brunt of the work.
Most golf injuries are soft tissue related from overuse.
With time, these conditions can become chronic and cause maladaptive changes to the tissue. Outcomes are much better if symptoms are addressed sooner rather than later.
If you are experiencing pain that is not improving with rest, it’s important to be assessed by a healthcare provider.
A lot of wrist and elbow injuries from golf can be due to technique and form.
If you are new to the sport or recently…
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