RETURN TO golf PROGRAM
Pain during your golf swing is guaranteed to A.) decrease golf performance and B.) typically starts to carry over into everyday life. When treating pain for golfers, it is essential practice to check multiple joint segments. From head to toe, if a joint restricted it can cause symptoms above or below. For instance, if your thoracic spine is limited or hip internal rotation is limited there is a greater risk to start having low back pain (your body will find ways to rotate!).
In golf more so than any other sport, it works as one kinetic chain. This is why it is crucial to find the root limiting problem during your physical therapy evaluation. If the root problem isn’t corrected, the problem will almost always come back.
Typical Golf Pathologies Seen:
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Lumbar facet derangements
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Hip Impingement/Stiffness
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Shoulder Impingement/Tendonitis
All these pathologies typically have a root problem which must be corrected along with site of pain/discomfort.
Physical Therapy Treatment Priorities:
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Find the source of the pain; typically, the site of pain isn’t the root cause of your pain
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Decrease your symptoms and correct limitations with a joint by joint approach.
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Focus on manual treatment during your session and give you corrective exercises to do at home (this is crucial to see results!).
Every golfer is different and should be treated different depending on what their limitations are. Each physical therapy treatment session will focus on progressing the athlete back to the course with a manual treatment approach and updating their correctives each visit.
If you are interested in having an RTS Physical Therapist help you return to golfing with pain or limitations, fill out this quick form!
