The Most Detrimental Swing In Sports

The Most Detrimental Swing In Sports

The common impression of the game of golf, is one of leisure and a lack of athleticism. What if I told you that golf was more detrimental to the human body, particularly the spine, than any other sport. An estimated 27 million people play golf in America (as of 2004) and of those 27 million, over one-third of those persons experience lower back problems.1 If you were to do the math on that, out of 27,000,000 roughly 9,000,000 people are experiencing some sort of lower back injury.

What Makes Golf so Rough on the Spine?

Biomechanically, golf is the most complex swing in all of sports because it requires the athlete to rotate on one axis while maintaining one position, thus creating torque on the spine. Here is a graphic illustrating the proper swing and the effects on the spine: As you can see from the image above, the torque of the swing is highly impacted in the lumbar region of the spine. Unlike baseball, which also requires a swing, the golf swing requires the load phase, the downswing phase, and the follow through phase, to be completed without moving laterally through space.2 During other sports, the swing moves through different axis’ thus alleviating the severe strain on the lower back. For example, the baseball swing has 3 phases much like the golf swing (load, swing, follow through) but allows the hitter to move laterally through space (back and forward) not only to deliver more power but to do so with the least amount of strain on the body as possible. Obviously, putting that much strain and torque on your spine isn’t ideal for an athlete, case in point, Tiger Woods. Tiger just received his fourth spine surgery due to back pain originating from his golf swing.  The athletes who have a long career in the sport of golf, have found a way to swing and minimize the amount of torque that they directly place on their spine.

Tips to Help Protect your Spine for Golfers

• Warm-up
• Play at 70-80% of maximal force
• Daily exercise to strengthen muscles surrounding the spine
• Stretch regularly
• Know warning signs of a possible injury

Conclusion

Knowing the biomechanics of a golf swing and how hard on the spine it is, should automatically change the common perception of the sport. After all, the definition of a sport is a game that is played by skilled competitors. Golf forces a player to rely solely on his/her skills to be able to compete thus deeming it as a sport. Next time you hear someone commenting on the athletes of golf or the game itself, inform them on how rough it can actually be.

References:

1 Campbell, J. (2008). golf injuries. carlsonmd.com. Retrieved 14 March 2016, from http://www.carlsonmd.com/pdf/golf-injuries.pdf

2 Maddalozzo, J. (2016). The Anatomical and Biomechanics Analysis of the full golf swing. activeedgemat.com. Retrieved 14 March 2016, from http://www.activeedgemat.com/docs/Golf_Swing_biomechanics_NSCA_article.pdf