Golf rib injury - what went wrong?

[Merkiwi]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to golf and have only played handful of rounds so far this year. After playing 2 rounds a couple of weekends ago I came away feeling as though I'd been punched in the lower right ribs (I'm a right-hander).

 

Has anyone else experienced this? What am I doing wrong and how can I avoid it? Cheers.

[iCollector]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to golf and have only played handful of rounds so far this year. After playing 2 rounds a couple of weekends ago I came away feeling as though I'd been punched in the lower right ribs (I'm a right-hander).

 

Has anyone else experienced this? What am I doing wrong and how can I avoid it? Cheers.

 

It is most likely an interstitial muscle pull. If so, you can expect to find it quite painful to make certain moves. I have experienced the same injury in my first - and second(!) years of playing. They are long to heal, especially if you are like me and refused to sit around and allow it to heal.

 

All it takes is one overswing to do it.... And if you don't stop then, it just exacerbates the injury. You could try a flexible wrap/brace to ease the pain somewhat. I'll tell you, I suffered for months with it.... Good luck with your recovery. Being new to golf one of the hardest things to get in your head is to not swing so hard. A smooth relaxed swing will always treat you right.

[mikebco]

I did similar thing last year - pulled the intercostal muscles in between the ribs. Pretty painful when I took a deep breath or coughed. Like the previous poster, I think it was probably caused by overswinging in addition to hitting too many balls!! :russian_roulette:

 

I actually went to a PromptCare facility because I had no idea what the pain was....did Xrays and even an EKG! Told me to rest, quit swinging for a couple of weeks and take plenty of Advil (4-5) a couple of times a day.

 

I healed pretty quickly.....The razzing from friends and co-workers lasted for months...

[Merkiwi]

Lol! :russian_roulette: Thanks for your replies. Yup I'm getting a fair bit of grief for this as well. But over swinging as the culprit is a valuable lesson. I guess I was trying to compensate for lack of distance on off-centre hits by trying to smash the ball. Time for some lessons I think... once the pain goes away. Cheers.