Golf is becoming not only exercise, but a way of socialization with peers. It is important to learn a proper swing in order to avoid injuries. Karen Drake, senior physical therapist and master golf performance specialist at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics: talks about improving your golf swing:
What sorts of injuries are common among golfers?
The back injuries are really big problems for many golfers, especially the trail side, which is the right side on a right-handed golfer when they hit the ball and follow through, that can be aggravating for that. Other common sites are the lead shoulder, lead elbow, wrists, and hands.
What causes the injuries?
Muscle imbalance and flexibility imbalances are probably a huge source. People who get out and exercise but kind of think any old exercise is fine; they have a tendency to strengthen things that are already strong and get more flexible on things that are already pretty flexible, so they don't have those balances and that makes you more vulnerable. Poor conditioning, not so much in the classic sense of an aerobic conditioning thing, but more in stamina in your muscles; you know on that 16th, 17th, and 18th hole when you're starting to fade and your game isn't quite as good, sometimes, and you're working a little harder, that's another time that you're more at risk. Not warming up, stretching in fact can be a little over-rated, though that's important, especially after your round, but you need to warm up; get there in plenty of time, do a little walking around, loosen up in general before you play. Then there's the faulty swing mechanics, bad training techniques, overuse, all important in injuries.
Do amateurs and professionals suffer similar or very different types of injuries with regard to golfing?
They're similar places, the causes of them can be quite different, however. Your basic weekend golfer, not so flexible, maybe not as strong or not having that stamina we mentioned, so they're more prone to acute injuries. Professional golfers, it tends to be more an overuse thing. Sometimes practicing more than they should be, not taking those little breaks, some of them adapt swings that are really harder on their body then they should be but they've been effective with them so they want to stay with them. There's a number of noted professionals who have had long standing back problems but they don't want to switch around how they swing because they've had so much success and they're making lots of money with it, so it puts them at risk.
You recently were certified by the Titleist Performance Institute's Health and Fitness Advisory Board. What does that mean?
This is put on by a large group of professionals that Titleist sponsors that did a workshop and this included training for physical therapists, golf professionals, and other fitness professionals, so it's a very all-inclusive thing talking about how to work together to help golfers in general. They want to keep golfers playing golf so they sell more golf balls, so Titleist is very much enthused about supporting this group. It's a rigorous training, and you find a specific global movement screen. You look at things like common swing faults, and then there's active testing during the course, and then you have to take a computerized exam that has multiple choice tests and then real time videos, which is a little scary, but we did it, so that was good.
What sort of things did you learn at the institute?
The evaluation covers a global screen that can help you pick up biomechanical things within how people use their body, and then you can use that in conjunction with looking at potential swing faults. But you also can use the screen to help you find areas where people have sort of weak links, so they need to address things so they don't end up having injuries, so they can play a better game, as well.
The other, I think, very interesting point that they covered kind of helped explain why you can take people that have classically beautiful golf swings and lots of success, and you can take people who have really questionable golf swings, either your neighbor or even some people on the pro circuit who have success with what looks like not such a good swing, and they look at kinematic sequences, they've done a lot of studies with this, and found that at certain parts of the swing going into impact, all of these swings have common characteristics that are successful, so that was a particularly interesting point to me.
Is there ongoing research in other areas?
The swing mechanics is a huge area with research. There are a number of physicists, actually, out there that are doing research on the mechanics and how this impacts your back. People in the military, people had actually ended up doing things because of the ballistics and the metals kind of things with the research.
There are other performance groups which I've been involved with, there's a GoLo Golf Performance that, actually, I have a certification with, they're doing some research; Fitness Golfer; BACKtoGOLF; I think they all do some level of research on golf. It's becoming bigger all the time.
When should a golfer come to someone like yourself to get specific instructions on their swing with regard to a back, shoulder or elbow injury?
The best time is before they have those significant injuries so they can avoid it. If they have some nagging problem, it's a good time to sort of look at things and see what might be influencing that so that they can avoid it during their swings. I try not to mess with people's swings, per se, I think that's better handled by the golf professionals who really do that. But if there's something within their swing that's really harmful, they either need to get their body in shape to support that or they need to talk to a golf professional or someone about things they can do to make it better, and usually in the sub-acute stage is a good time to have that checked out.
Do people need to be referred to you, or can they make an appointment to see you if they are having reoccurring injuries or problems with their golf swing?
We have direct access, so if the person isn't in the midst of an acute injury, they can call and we can set something up to look at the fitness combined with their golf swing. They can reach us at 319-356-8400.
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