Why Does My Back Hurt After a Round of Golf?
“Why is it my low back hurts after I get done playing a round of golf?”
This was a question we recently got asked…
Let’s first talk about the sport itself.
Golf… It’s a rotational sport.
We rotate through the trunk from the hips, all the way up through the shoulders to your hands.
Then, down through to the opposite side and then transfers all that energy and body weight to the clubhead and then into the ball.
Hopefully, then you hit the ball squarely with the clubface.
Then you hit it straight or with a slight draw and somewhere right down the middle of the fairway.
It puts a lot of torque on our spine, which in turn puts a lot of stress, potentially on our spine.
Now the best way to go about protecting the spine is to make sure you have great mobility and that you have good support structures around that spine.
So I’m gonna talk to you about a few common areas that we tend to see problems associated with people that like to play golf.
Muscle Weakness
This can be a weakness of the hip muscles, possibly the hip flexors, hip abductors or the glutes.
Additional weakness can be found in your abdominal muscles. We are talking primarily in your deeper abdominal muscles which are the transverse abdominis and our multifidus. These are actually the stabilizers of our spine. If you have a weakness issue and even potentially an endurance issue, then activities that are going to specifically address that is gonna be really important for you to do. If it’s an endurance issue, then you’re gonna need to do these activities for a sustained period of time and do them repetitively, much like a golf swing.
Mobility Limitations
Another reason you experience pain after playing golf could also be a mobility issue. If it’s a mobility issue, it could be either muscle or it could be joint… we need to figure out which it is.
If it’s a mobility issue, usually we see this as a hip rotation mobility limitation or it’s related to hamstrings, glutes, or hip flexors.
It could also be related to the muscles in the chest. Believe it or not, you need to have good chest mobility in order to initiate that golf swing.
And because the movement is from one rotation into the other direction, you need mobility really through the entire body.
If it’s a joint problem, you can do things to yourself that can address some of the joints. It’s better to actually have a professional do this for you.
That’s not saying that you can’t do it. But if I’m a mechanic and I fix cars on a regular basis, would you rather the mechanic work on your car?
Or if you are somebody who’s never worked on a car before, go ahead and attempt to look under the hood and figure out what the problem is..again, you can do it.
The risk is you might actually do more harm than you do good.
Bad Form or Swing?
The other thing it could be is that maybe you have a bad swing. And that’s not saying your swing is bad every single time. But let’s say even 80% of the time you have a good swing. That means 20% of the time you have a bad swing. If you’re an average golfer, you’re probably looking at somewhere between 90 and a hundred plus swings, which means there are about 15 to 20 plus bad swings in there. That can be enough to put a tremendous amount of force, torque, and stress on your body that’s going to cause you to have issues. So if that’s the case, I would recommend that you get a golf/swing coach or golf pro to go ahead and look at it.
Again, the same premise as previously stated. I would rather that somebody who does this day in and day out save me the headache and the time (or frustration) by addressing it because they’re trained to do it and get me results quickly. They have the trained eye to catch it and therefore they can give you tips to resolve that issue quickly.
Weekend Golf Warrior
Another part of that could also be maybe you’re just a weekend warrior so you only play golf on the weekends. If that’s the case, I would encourage you to get out there at least once, maybe even twice during the week to work on your swing. It could be something as simple as taking, 20, 30, maybe even 50 golf swings. But going through and actually hitting because you need that muscle memory and repetition. Repetition leads to consistency.
So that’s another way that you can go about again being more at the forefront of addressing the issues that may exist.
What To Do Next
To recap, it could be a mobility problem, a strength or endurance issue problem or it could be just a purely a poor mechanics issue.
If you’d like to find out more information about the things that we do to help people that play golf and that have low back pain, you can visit our website on back pain.
If you’re interested, there’s a free, “Tips Guide,” that’s on that page.
Go ahead and fill out the simple form and click submit and then we’ll shortly send you an email afterward that contains that PDF tips guide.
It is some of the most useful tips that we’ve had that our clients have given us feedback on that they have found to be most beneficial.
<<< Click here to get to the low back tips guide sent directly to your email >>>
Remember, the best hole is the 19th hole. And if you’re in pain on the 19th hole, that’s never any way to finish your round. Get out there, have fun, enjoy the sun. And keep back pain away from your golf game.
Dedicated to your health,
Dr. Oscar Andalon, DPT, STC, MTC, CSCS, SFMA
For more than 16 years, thousands of athletes, fitness enthusiasts and active people of all ages, levels and sports including Olympic medalists, professional, collegiate and recreational athletes have consulted Oscar; looking for answers to concerning questions about a fast end to their pain and best ways to improving performance.
Prior to living in Carlsbad, CA, he worked as Clinic Director for a 20,000 sq.ft. sports physical therapy and performance center. He became known as the “athlete whisperer” in the Pacific Northwest by becoming the leading sports performance enhancement physical therapist and CrossFit injury rehab and performance specialist. He also was known as a consultant to the Nike WHQ in Portland, OR.
Oscar’s passion for excelling in sports earned him the opportunity to compete in soccer both at the Division 1 collegiate level at the University of San Francisco and at the professional level playing for the California Jaguars; giving him the understanding and experience of knowing what it takes to perform and excel at the highest level of competition. Oscar is an orthopedic and sports performance specialist with a true passion for helping athletes and fitness fanatics of all ages and divisions, serving as an educator to bridge the gap between rehab and strength and conditioning.
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