SPORTS
It’s that time of year again! The days are longer, the temperatures are warmer, the PGA tour is entering championship season, and all of us amateur golfers are heading back out to the courses. After a long sedentary winter, many of us jump back out there without much preparation. Let’s learn a little from the pros and address our performance and skill set to prevent injury. Here are a few tips!
1. Proper warm up
• Dynamic warm up exercises vs prolonged static stretching to improve movements required for swing
• Arrive at course early and use your club to simulate swing
2. Properly fitted equipment
• Get a professional fitting
3. Take a lesson
• Professional eyes to fix poor technique
4. Improve mobility of all involved joints with dynamic warm up
• Spine, pelvis, hips, shoulders, wrist and forearm
• Hip hinge
• Thoracic rotation
• Pronation / supine
5. Improve flexibility
• Start a lower extremity and hip stretching program a few weeks ahead of time
• Hamstrings
• Gastroc
• Hip flexor
• Quads
6. Improve dynamic balance
• Improve coordination and motor control of trunk, pelvis, and lower extremities
• Improve balance reactions of ankles and hips
• Single leg stance
7. Improve core stability and lower extremity strength
o Abdominals
Functional multi-planar and multidirectional movements with different kinds of load (resistance bands, medicine balls, cable column)
• Lifting and chopping
o Glutes
Squats
Single leg RDL
Lunges
o low back muscles
Bridges with feet on ball
Reverse bridges with shoulders on ball
8. See a physical therapist
• Experts in human movement
• Specialized exercise program
• Analyze proper biomechanics and body movement to prevent injury
• Eliminate stressors causing pain
• Provide manual therapy to decrease pain and increase healing
