Is back pain keeping you from enjoying life? Do Any Of These Conditions Affect Your Golf Game?
- Back pain
- Sciatica
- Disc bulging/herniations
- Muscle spasms
- Lumbar facet syndrome
- Pinched nerves and numbness
- Shoulder pain
- Leg weakness
My name is Dr. Russell Brokstein, and as a chiropractor in Freehold, New Jersey, I specialize in many sports injuries. Golf is a popular sport in Monmouth County, NJ. During the spring and summer months, I see a lot of golfers who have lower back pain, neck pain, and even shoulder, elbow, knee and or hip pain.
It starts out as just a twinge, but by the last 5 holes it becomes unbearable. You’re hesitant to really swing that new driver for all it’s worth – fearing that you’ll injure your back even worse . Or maybe you’ve had to stop playing golf completely because your back pain and sciatica are so bad.
Sure, you can numb the pain if you take enough Vicodin, Soma or some other pain medication. But the real problem is while you play through all “numbed up”, you are definitely injuring your back even more….without knowing it. That pain is a signal to you that something is wrong and just masking it with a pain pill will cause more harm than good.
Friends May Tell You Back Pain Comes From a Bad Swing…They’re Wrong!
If your drives are getting shorter and shorter and your putts less smooth, it has more to do with your back than your swing.
Studies show that about one-third of touring PGA and LPGA players are playing with back pain right now. These pros have the best swing mechanics in the world, yet still have back pain! Think of all the extra wear and tear on the joints, tendons and ligaments from the repetitive motions of the golf swing.
In addition to that, another study conducted at the University of Calgary showed… “Pain-free golfers demonstrated over twice as much trunk flexion velocity on the downswing”.
This means the less back pain you have, the more flexible your spine is and the faster you can swing – hitting the ball straighter and farther.
Over the past 13 years, I’ve helped hundreds of golfer’s in the area feel better, return to the course and hit longer, straighter shots.
Your driving distance is determined primarily by club-head speed. The larger the arc that the club-head travels through, the faster the club will be going when it contacts the ball. The size of your swing arc will depend on your spinal and pelvic flexibility, not your strength.
Flexibility is much more important to your long game than strength. If you want to hit longer and more powerful golf shots you must improve your posture and flexibility.
Other golfers come to me knowing chiropractic provides the advantage of prevention and increasing their flexibility and full range of motion in their swing providing for longer, more powerful golf shots.
It’s so important that if you play golf, that you have a sports chiropractor that analyzes your ranges of motion of the entire spine, your flexibility of your leg and arm muscles, and the strenght and stability of your ankles, feet, knees and hips. Even if you are not feeling pain, it can help you prevent future problems and also improve your swing and handicap.
In our office we assess all aspects, starting with a state of the art computerized nervous system and spine assessment. Then we check the range of motion of your cervical and thoraco-lumbar spine. Afterward we check the flexibility of your hamstrings, quadriceps, and piriformis muscles in the leg and hip regions and follow with checking the muscles of the shoulder girdle. Finally we muscle test the stability of the supporting joints of the legs, shoulders and arms.
“If It’s Good Enough For The Pros…”
The PGA has a full time chiropractor present at every PGA event year round. Even Tiger Woods has had a chiropractor on his team since the beginning of this career. In fact, he rode on the Chiropractic Centennial Float in the 1995 Pasadena tournament of Roses Parade. Before the parade, he said…
“I’ve been going to the chiropractor for as long as I remember. It’s as important to my game as practicing my swing!” – Tiger Woods
Our office, Hometown Family Wellness Center is located at 9 Broadway, Freehold, NJ where Main Street forks for Rte 79. We have helped golfers in Freehold and the surrounding towns of Marlboro, Morganville, Howell, Colts Neck, Millstone, Jackson and Manalapan, NJ.
Golf is a sport that requires your back in every aspect. If you do not address your back pain properly, it can haunt you and force you to give up golf forever. Don’t let back pain handicap your golf game any longer or better yet, get an advantage over your fellow golfers who don’t utilize chiropractic for a natural edge in your swing and game!