Golf injuries occur to both amateur and professional golfers, but most golf injuries can be prevented with the proper intervention.
Most golf injuries are not the result of a single traumatic event. Rather, they occur as a result of tissue damage sustained over time from overuse and poor technique. Most golf injuries are grouped into sprains, strains, fractures, tendonitis or bursitis.
Sprain is over stretching or tearing injury to a ligament ( tissue connecting bone to bone, stabilizing joints). Sprain injuries are characterized by pain, swelling, tenderness, and reduced joint motion.
Strain is a partial tearing or stretching injury to a muscle. Muscle fibers can tear if they are overstretched, especially when they are forcefully contracting. A muscle strain usually results in immediate and severe pain, and the involved muscle will become tender to touch, swollen, black-and-blue, and painful when contracting the involved muscle.
Fracture (break) is damage to bone tissue. Too much compression, twisting (torsion), or bending forces causes bones to fracture. Stress fractures occurs when bones are injured by repeated minor stresses (micro-trauma) rather than one big catastrophic crunch. This usually occurs in older golfers but not always.
Tendonitis & Bursitis are the most common golf injuries, frequently affecting areas such as the elbow, shoulder, and wrist. Tendons are the ends of muscles designed to connect muscles to bones. The bursa is the fluid capsule under the tendons that protects the tendons from the rough bony surface. With repeated stress, tendons sustain microscopic tears. Tendonitis is swelling and pain of the tendons, and it is the bodyï¿½s healing process for tendons. It is characterized by localized swelling, tenderness to touch, and pain when the injured tendon is stressed.
Prevention of Golf Injuries
Hitting a golf ball, regardless of how far the ball goes, is profoundly demanding on the upper body. Swinging a golf club places significant stresses on the body, and in order to develop club speeds that can exceed 100 miles per hour, muscles and joints are stressed near their limits.
Sports trainers and physicians recognize that there are a number of factors that contribute to golfer injuries.
Some of these include: Failure to warm up properly, poor physical conditioning (weak and unbalanced muscles), poor swing technique, overuse (excessive play or practice) Golf specific stretches prior to a golf outing and specific exercises that develop weak muscles are vital at reducing most golf injuries. Chiropractic reduces the bio-mechanical damage golfing places on the body.
*If you have any golf related questions please e-mail us at: firstname.lastname@example.org or call to schedule a FREE Golf Injury Consultation with Dr. Owens or Dr. Baker at one of our York locations. 717-767-4151 By: Dr. Kevin Owens
Chiropractic Athletic Center
1785 Loucks Rd.
York, Pa 17408