5 Tips to Protect Your Joints and Help Your Golf Game

From Florida Hospital Apopka

Let’s say you are enjoying a nice game of golf with your boss or you have a friendly wager going with a good friend and it’s your turn to knock this one out of the park. You approach the ball and take your best swing, then all of a sudden, your ball goes left, your back goes right, your shoulders go up and your knees hit the ground. What are you going to do now? Fortunately, there are a few ways for you to protect your joints and help your golf game all at the same time. Here are a few tips to help your golf game:

Joint motions at the hip, knee, and elbow

Maximizing the energy transfer in your swing

Achieving the proper pattern of mobility and stability sequencing throughout the swing

Controlling balance and weight shift through your swing

Stability and positioning at finish

Florida Hospital Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation has an awesome program called “Golf Fore Life” that is specifically designed for golfers. Our certified experts will assess every phase of your swing, from address to finish with our golf swing analysis and functional movement screen. This is a really easy and cool way to find out whether or not your swing is hindering your golf game or causing injuries.

Key Factors for Injuries

Many people injure themselves simply because they do not stretch. A survey showed that more than half of the golfers who warmed up for 10 minutes or more before golfing had fewer than half the injuries than those who did not warm up. Another cause of injuries is the fact that golf is a repetitive sport. For this reason alone, many strains occur with the shoulder, neck, back, ankle and other areas of the body.

Dr. J. Dean Cole, MD an orthopedic surgeon at Florida Hospital explains, “The quick twisting motion of your spine, hips, and knee can be harmful. Be sure to get those joints ready prior to swinging for the moon. Core strengthening and a good warm-up routine will go a long way to avoid injury.”

For many people, golf is a relaxing hobby -- something they can do to release stress. We all need that. However, when the very hobby that you engage in is causing you pain and inconvenient injuries, you can learn what you can do to prevent them. These preventative measures and exercise can help you avoid common injuries, and in turn, will land you that amazing win with your buddies, minus the injuries of course.

Still have questions? Our experts are here to help. Visit our website or call (855) 303-DOCS.