This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, north Atlanta, where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host.
Speaker 2:Stacey Risley. Hello friends and neighbors, Welcome to North Atlanta's Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we're here with John Braswell. He is a physical therapist with Functionize Health and Physical Therapy here in Dunwoody and is one of our expert contributors to Dunwoody Neighbors Magazine. So he is here to help us understand a little bit more about golf and golf injuries and how to prevent them. And so welcome, John, we are so happy to have you on.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate being on.
Speaker 2:Well, so the title of the article is Golf in Georgia it's kind of a thing and it talks mostly about how to prevent some golf injuries and improve, and how physical therapy can help improve your golf game. So really, if we can, we'd love to start with some of the common injuries that you see and their causes in golf.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I'll just give a brief synopsis of each and then go into details of each one. So when you're looking at golfing injuries, for the most part you're either going to be seeing people coming in with low back pain Another one's called golfer's elbow, similar to tennis elbow, like you've probably heard before rotator cuff injuries, knee pain and then wrist and hand injuries. So if we go back to low back pain, and what you normally see when it comes to golf related injuries is golf does require a lot of rotational force and it can strain the lower back and that can lead to stiffness and chronic pain, and so we see a lot of people like that.
Speaker 3:When it comes to those kinds of issues, golfer's elbow is probably the most common one, at least that I see. So it really has to do with repetitive stress on your forearm muscles from gripping the golf glove a lot and it can actually cause a lot of inflammation on the inside of your elbow, because that's where your gripping muscles start, and so then you get a lot of pain and inflammation on the inside of your elbow. Rotator cuff injuries, so that's going to be near your shoulder, more on the back of your shoulder, so things like shoulder instability or impingement, or even tears, if it's bad enough, can result from the high demands that placed on your upper body. And then knee pain, not as common because golf is more of a stationary sport. Because golf is more of a stationary sport, but you can get knee injuries that way due to the twisting motions, especially when you're using higher clubs, like off the tee box, using a driver or something like that, and so that you shift your weight a lot more and so as a result, it's going to blow out stress on the knees and it is worse for those with preexisting knee conditions. So if you already have one, you're more likely to get in the injury in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 3:And then lastly and this kind of goes hand-in-hand with golfer's elbow is wrist and hand injuries. So I mentioned before gripping. You know gripping a golf club If you grip it too hard or if you just play a lot of golf, you're going to, you know, can lead to a lot of tendonitis and tendinopathy and sprains, even fractures in your hand and wrist if you're not careful. Plus, also, if you have things like a desk job where you're using your hands a lot and things like that, or you have a job, just in general, where you use your hands a lot, you're more likely to maybe get an injury to one of these areas.
Speaker 2:So prevention for these. The main part of the article is talking about how physical therapy can help you with prevention and with your golf game in general. So, with physical therapy, what are some ways that you guys would help prevent these injuries?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we really do put a big emphasis on warming up, but not just static like stretching and and then going on your way, but more of a dynamic type of warm-up is good. Strength training is also helpful. We're at where we, where our clinic is. We do place a big emphasis on strength training and how beneficial it can be across a lot of different um systems, including golf, but not just uh to golf alone. Um, it's also.
Speaker 3:Maybe you do need some mobility work, so maybe stretching is what you need, so stuff like that. But those are kind of the big topics, you know. So if it is mobility, you know you're going to be able to have. If you have the right mobility, you can have increased flexibility in your hips or your back or your shoulders, and if you don't have that full mobility, it's going to limit your ability to swing as much as you need to and to have the best swing that you can have.
Speaker 3:And then strength, like I mentioned before, golf. I will say it's not all about strength, though, because what I found is golf can be a game of opposites. You swing too hard if you swing as hard as you can, or if you just use everything that's in you and you tense up. It doesn't always work to the best of your abilities, but strengthening if you know which muscles to use at the right time, it can help you really be stable and have a smooth and effective golf swing.
Speaker 3:And then I say this to pretty much anybody, including myself is warming up before you play. So some sort of dynamic warm-up. But also warming up should mimic what you're about to do. So if you're about to play golf, your warm-up should look like you're golfing. You shouldn't do something that's not going to help you with your golf swing. And so it's just good because it primes your muscles and your joints for the demands of it and it just can help reduce risk of injury. And so things dynamic stretches, body weight exercises like squats or, you know, low back rotations or something like that, can be really helpful. And then, like I mentioned before, you can always practice right Go into the driving range or, you know, you know, go into the putting green before a round, and really improving your skills before can really help you when you actually go play a round of golf.
Speaker 2:Well, I love what you said, that you know warming up should mimic the activity you know, and that makes a lot of sense. Yep, exactly For sure. Common sense advice, I love it yeah. That is helpful. The next portion of the article and I'd love to hit on these if you're into that but it talks about, you know, three common swing faults and what is to correct those and fix them. So so you want to touch on those for us.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, yeah. So three that we really see, and just meaning this is the most common kinds of faults that we see in golfers. And so the three are early extension and impact, reverse spine angle and then over the top on the downswing. And I am guilty of the third one. I'll just preface with that, over the top on the downswing. But to go back to the first one, early extension at impact, I'll talk with all these. I'll talk about what the cause is, most likely cause is, and then the best way to fix it.
Speaker 3:So for early extension at impact, usually the cause is due to limited hip rotation. So, like I was saying before, stretching would probably be helpful in improving this. If you don't have the good amount of hip rotation when you go to swing, it's just not gonna. You're just going to use your back a lot more, hence low back injuries, and that's gonna cause a lot of stress in your low back as opposed to using your hips, and then, on top of that, again going back to pain in your low back. If you have weak glutes or the muscles around your pelvis, your back is going to take the brunt of that and your hips and your glutes aren't going to help and so you're going to hurt yourself. So strengthening your glutes, and so this is where the strength training comes into play, and getting people to get on a good strengthening program for their glutes and hips to help with that kind of thing. Um second point was reverse uh, reverse spine angle and so the with this it's usually going a little bit higher up. So when we talked about like rotator cuff injuries and things like that, um, and it's still in your back, I would say too, but the cause can be either if you have tight lat muscles, so I call those the Michael Phelps muscles, the V muscles that Michael Phelps used to have um
Speaker 3:limited trunk and hip rotation. So, again, you know, not being able to move your back like you should. And then poor core control, and so stretching of your lat muscles, which I will say is a big factor for a lot of functional movement. A lot of people do have tight lats and so they compensate with other areas and so, um, stretching those is helpful. Getting on a good low back and mid back mobility routine that you can do, before which you can use your golf clubs, you can use nothing whatever. You have to really get your spine moving.
Speaker 3:But then, at the same time, if you have too much rotation, if you have instability, then you're also at risk for hurting yourself. So that's where the core control comes into play, and there's a whole plethora of core exercises we could go into. And I don't really mean strengthening your core like doing sit-ups and crunches and things like that, but it's more things, more like planks or farmer's carries or suitcase carries, where you're really, you know, aware of where your core muscles are and how they can help with stabilizing your back. And then, lastly, as far as the most common of the most common faults we see would be over the top and the downswing, so if you have weak core stability. So this is what I was kind of talking about before If you have too much stability rotation in your lower back, you don't have enough core stability to control your downswing, and so you're going to come over the top of the ball and you're just not going to hit it very high and so, as a result, you need to work on your core stability and core control to help you on the when your club is coming down to strike the ball and then, at the same token you know this is why balance is is also important going down, you know, to your lower body.
Speaker 3:Maybe it's not your core, maybe it's a balance issue. So single leg balance work and things like that could be helpful. And then something we talked about before another contributor to this could be limited hip and trunk rotation. So again, same thing Kind of doing some mobility work for your hips and low back could be helpful. And so, in order to fix this, we would strengthen your core hip muscles, work on your single leg balance, of course, and then kind of increase your rotational mobility. And so there's more kind of faults, and everybody's individualized and has their own little things that we can tailor just to them, but for the most part, these are the kinds of things that you're most likely going to see.
Speaker 2:And it talks about at the end of the article. You mentioned that you could contact you guys for a free assessment and what? What does a golf assessment entail?
Speaker 3:So what it usually is is Titleist, which is a very popular golf brand, and golf balls and all the things and hats and all this stuff. So they have an Institute called Titleist Performance Institute and basically they have this whole big screen. Think of it kind of like if you go to the doctor and you get a physical right and they go through a bunch of different checklists right To check off, like oh you're good here, you're good here, or oh, maybe you should work on stretching your whatever or whatever, or maybe you should eat, drink more water, right?
Speaker 3:And so it's a step-by-step process where they look at these things like are your lats tight? Is your low back tight? Do you have, you know, poor core stability? Is your balance bad? Do you have good strength in your hips and core? And it tests all these things.
Speaker 3:And then you get a score and then it kind of lays out you know what you're, what's good and what's not, and so then you can design, you know, a program for somebody based on their limitations, to help their golf swing. So, and that's what it is and for the part because I'll tell you this, I'm still learning my golf swing per se, but from a physical therapy perspective, we can really help those. You know these folks be like, hey, why don't, why don't we help you with your strengths and your, your mobility and your core control? And you go to your golf coach to help on your actual golf swing, but then it's a comp. Then it's the thing. Maybe we we get in touch with the golf coach and say, hey, we're going to work on hip strength with this guy, but I need you to work on whatever you are seeing with him when it comes to his actual swing, and then it allows us to help them overall, so then they can play better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can collaborate with them.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Come up with a plan.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're not training their golf swing, that's right Healthier and be able to prevent some of these injuries that you commonly see.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes yes.
Speaker 2:Well, and so it says also in the article that if you mention this podcast, or if you mention this Dunwoody Neighbors, then you can get a golf assessment for just ninety nine dollars.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's fantastic. We run promotionals for sure, and so you know, if they call our, the office, and tell us that we can get them on the schedule, you know, usually the same week, which is good, and get them in, you know, based on our availability and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So that's wonderful, and father's day is coming up.
Speaker 3:I know yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a really nice father's day gift.
Speaker 3:I don't know if my dad would want me to tell him about his golf swing, though you know maybe somebody else that may be a little too close to home there, that's right, that's right. Maybe somebody else, but yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Like one of the other physical therapists, that's right.
Speaker 2:Well, I really appreciate you coming on today. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:For sure. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Stacey.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. That's all for today's episode. Lana, I'm Stacey Risley with the Good Neighbor Podcast. Thanks for listening and for supporting the local businesses and nonprofits of our great community.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening and for supporting the local businesses and nonprofits of our great community. Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta. To nominate your favorite local businesses, visit GNPNorthAtlantacom. That's GNPNorthAtlantacom.