Why Do I Have Back Pain When Playing Golf?

Many people suffer from neck or back pain either during or after they play a round of golf.

There are many reasons that could be contributing to your back pain during your golf swing.  A couple of these issues are lack of flexibility in your muscles, joint restrictions in your spine or peripheral joints, or lack of strength decreasing your stability are a couple of issues that may hinder your golf swing and lead to bigger problems.

These issues tend to become more prevalent in the spring after you have been more sedentary over the winter months.  Since golf is a repetitive activity trying to reproduce the same swing, this can lead to increased inflammation, sprains and strains, muscle pulls, and disc problems.

3 Things That Can Cause Pain When Playing Golf

Here are the things that can lead to a sports injury or increased pain with your golf game:

1. Lack of flexibility or forgetting to do a proper stretching warm-up before you play.  If you have poor flexibility or try to swing a club with “cold muscles” you increased the risk of pulling a muscle resulting in increased pain and inability to swing the club.
2. Over-swinging can cause increased stress to joint structures in your back leading to more serious injuries such as a herniated disc or joint inflammation.
3. Poor posture with the golf swing increases stress through your neck and low back which can result in injuries to soft tissue or joint structures.

How To Reduce Injuries

Tips for helping reduce injuries to your back while golfing

1. Warm-up properly with a good stretching routine for your spine, legs, and arms before you swing the golf club.  Also, increase your flexibility with a daily stretching routine.
2. Improve your posture with the golf swing, if you do not know if you have good posture, talk with your golf professional or health care provider about golf-specific posture.
3. Increase your core stability to decrease stress through the joints and discs in your back.
4. Increase your cardiovascular endurance to be able to tolerate the repetitive nature of the golf swing

Fully Enjoy Your Golf Time

If you are still having pain with the golf swing, you should seek out a medical professional for a golf-specific evaluation.  A TPI, (Titleist performance institute) evaluation can diagnose mobility and stability issues as well as diagnose why you are having pain.  Trust Knoxville Spine and Sport for back pain relief when you play golf, with our certified TPI physical therapist or chiropractor in Knoxville.