How often has a niggly back gotten in the way of your golf lately? Has a grumpy hip had you second guessing your technique? Have you been contemplating using a golf cart instead of walking the full 18?
No matter your sport of choice, there is a lot to gain from some extra fitness and a sense of community. It can enhance our lives so much, so when we can’t perform to our best ability, it’s not just your handicap number that’s impacted. At Morgan’s Osteopathy, we understand the importance placed on someone’s hobby or sport of choice, and one of our favourite goals to be a part is keeping you active, mobile and capable.
Golf has the benefit of being a non-contact sport, along with minimal exposure to compressive forces through your joints… But the golf swing remains to be a common source of bio-mechanical injury, it demands a significant amount of mobility from multiple areas of the body, as well as the ability to perform this action repeatedly (just how repeatedly depends on your game I suppose!)
The Golf Swing…
So let’s talk through a golf swing, for the sake of this blog, I’m going to assume the perspective of a right handed golf swing.
Set up:
You step up to the ball, you fix the grip of your club, you hinge slightly forward from your hips and maintain a slight bend in your knees to achieve optimal club height behind the ball. You’re ready to swing.
Backswing:
Your arms begin to swing the club back to the right, your torso follows, forcing your hips, and knees to rotate on a vertical axis, the arches in your feet heighten as your toes grip the ground to stabilise your stance. As you approach the end range of your backswing, many of these joints and soft tissues reach their respective maximal range of motion and point of stretch or torsion. These factors determine your maximal range of swing and subsequently, the degree of power available to you for your down swing.
Downswing:
You then release out of the bound, back swing position and begin your club’s trajectory toward the ball. Your weight transitions forward, moving from your back leg to the front leg. The right hip unwinds as the left binds, our torso rotates left and the right heel begins to lift, this time allowing the right hip to pivot with your movement as the left hip absorbs a significant amount of torsional rotation towards the end of your swing. Sending your game (hopefully) toward the green.
The body is interrelated!
If you have ever had lessons on your golf swing, I’m sure you can appreciate the complexity of this motion! My description above focuses primarily on what’s happening with the torso and hips, but there is so much to delve into above and below these areas. So many points of motion that must work together in a cohesive manner, within a very small window of time!
With any bio-mechanical presentation, Osteopaths attempt to assess the body from a holistic perspective, taking many factors into consideration, and in the case of a golf swing, there is much to account for. An Osteopathic assessment of a golf swing may take into consideration the mobility of your foot, ankle, knee, hip, lumbar spine, thoracic spine, shoulder and elbow… But to name a few.
For example, if the right hip isn’t able to effectively rotate through a right handed backswing, a significant amount of stress is then placed on the joints above and below, such as the knee and/or lower back. Through repetition and over time, restrictions such as this can lead to irritation and potentially injury.
18 holes… That’s a lot of walking!
In all the excitement of talking golf swing, I’d be remiss not to touch on another activity that is imperative for a round of golf, the activity we would arguably spend the majority of our time on the course doing… Walking! How we place one foot in front of another is a HUGE contributor to our body’s function and mobility. A restriction that’s impacting your swing may be stemming from an asymmetry in your gait, so always take this into consideration when assessing your game.
Get yourself a movement detective
It can be a tricky task to navigate where your body may be going wrong, but that’s why us Osteopaths do what we do, we’re the body movement detectives if you like! So if you’re experiencing trouble with your golfing game, or just looking to keep your swing as mobile and efficient as possible, give us a try, we’d love to help with your game!
Book online now via www.morgansosteopathy.com.au for some mobility based help and advice!
Comments