Low Back Pain
Thanks to its popularity, Golf is one of the most UK’s and America’s all-time favourite sports. Golfers see it as a good sport for people of different ages to play together and for spending time with friends and family.
Although it is becoming more and more popular among both younger and older people, like any other sport, golf can produce injuries to both the lumbar spine and thoracic spine. One of the main golf injuries is lower back pain (usually due to muscle strains and sprains).
All the repetitive actions of swinging the golf club, such as backswings and downswings contribute to the number one cause of low back pain and injury in golfers. A ‘Reverse Angle’ swing fault is a common cause of back pain that occurs when the spine deviates from the vertical during the swing.
Prevention
What can you do to prevent a lower back injury?
- A good warm-up – Stretch before getting on the golf course – at home or in the clubhouse to warm up your muscles, and prevent muscle strain. Stretching your lats (latissimus dorsi muscles) also helps with back mobility. Strengthening exercises can also help prevent injuries to your back.
- Practice swinging your golf club – Back pain when golfing can be due to a few swing faults.
- Improve your posture – Avoid any physical compensation.
- Use the Spinal Backrack Lumbar Belt to treat and prevent back pain whilst playing golf.
Many symptoms of back pain and injury can be affected by issues such as herniated discs, faults within the facet joints and sciatica.
In golfers, discs and sciatica are the most common disorders of the back. A herniated disc or ‘slipped disc’ refers to a protrusion of the gel material from inside the disc. This can cause dull pain in the back and/or sciatica, particularly when bending forward or doing a back swing.
Most acute low back injuries that occur during a game of golf will get better over a couple of days to weeks. It is generally not advisable to further stress inflamed muscles by continuing to play golf through an episode of low back pain. For treating and preventing back pain, wear a lumbar belt which will work directly on the cause of the problems rather than the symptoms and provides more than just back support.
Backrack Lumbar Decompression Belt
Author: Spinal Backrack
