Golf is a wonderful sport that is wildly frustrating and rewarding at the same time. You can spend 4 hours hitting the ball terribly and stripe one down the middle on the last hole, changing your perspective of the day completely. Golf is a sport that presents a fantastic opportunity to socialise with friends and loved ones, get in some valuable incidental exercise as well as challenge yourself against yourself.

Missing out on a golf game because you are injured can be incredibly frustrating and sometimes not necessary. You might suffer from knee pain, lower back pain, wrist or elbow pain and think this means you can’t play golf. Have your ailments assessed by a sports health therapist and ask “what can I do”, not what you can’t do. 

Common conditions that might affect your golf game

Lower back pain, knee pain, elbow pain are three common ailments that might be affecting your golf game.

Lower back pain

  • As our Ocean Grove and Leopold osteopaths sometimes say, “focus on the hips to help the lower back”. By increasing strength and mobility around the hips you can reduce the load on your lower back.
  • Warming-up becomes vital when you have an irritated back. Instead of practicing your putting before a game, spend the time warming up focusing on the major muscles of the legs. Your warm-up doesn’t have to be complicated – work through basic movements such as squats, hinging at the hips, and lunges before gradually increasing your practice swings.

Knee pain

  • Previous injury or osteoarthritis may be some reasons you experience knee pain. When golfing it is important to build up the amount of walking you are doing around the course. Over the course of 18 holes, you may walk 10-12 km, so maybe start with 6 holes and set goals to slowly increase the distance.
  • Knee pain is something that will also benefit from daily strength training, this can be done as part of your daily activities. You don’t need to find time to go to the gym or lift heavy weights – every time you get out of a chair this is a great chance to improve your strength and functional capacity.

Elbow pain

  • Tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow can be frustrating as it affects so many activities in our lives. So, it’s important to be proactive in managing the injury, it may take a while to fully resolve but the longer you leave an aliment like tennis elbow the longer it will take to recover.
  • There are various methods that can be used to reduce pain intensity, such as braces, taping and manual therapy. Combining these methods with correctly prescribed exercises ensure you can continue doing the things you love (such as playing golf!).

Pain that stops you from doing what you love will affect us not only physically but mentally, so be good to yourself and help ensure pain isn’t compromising the activities that you enjoy. Don’t stop, keep playing!

Osteopaths tips to stay golf course

Here are some tips to stay on the golf course from our osteopaths which can be applied to other enjoyable leisure activities:

  • A sports health assessment may help identify your issue, develop a management plan and get you back to doing what sports activities you love.
  • Look for ways to alter the sports activity to reduce the pain intensity.
  • Ask an experienced practitioner for ways to help the recovery process that can be included in your everyday life.

Osteos and sports health therapists to get you back in the game

Contact your osteo if you are struggling with pain that’s stopping you from playing your preferred sport. Call or book online for a treatment with one of our Ocean Grove osteopaths at (03) 5255 5040 or Leopold sports health therapists on (03) 4202 0446 to manage your presenting concerns, and let us help keep you on the green.