I've Finally Surrendered - Golf is Bad For the Back

[hoselpalooza]

i think that golf is bad for the back as sitting is bad for the office worker. unless there is some underlying issue, good ergonomics will go a long way toward making the activity sustainable. 

[joostin]

For sure golf can amplify back pain, just look at Tiger and Day.  Even being fit, strong, and flexible you can have back issues.  Like @Nels55 said about muscle activation, getting those supporting muscles firing is really important.  Remember when Tiger got flack and wtf's for saying his glutes weren't activated?  He was right.  Lower back has to work together with the other muscles in the posterior chain - mainly glutes and hamstrings - to prevent the lower back from taking the brunt of the load.  Spinal erectors are pretty strong, so it's easy to let them take over (seen people deadlifting a lot of weight with rounded backs? Yeah).  Anytime bending at the hips - washing your face in the sink, picking up a box, in a golf stance... - you can feel back pain.  A big goal is to activate glutes and hams in hip extension.

 

You definitely want to strengthen, not just massage and stretch.  Back extensions, superman extensions on the ground, deadlift variations (keeping back straight of course), hip thrusts, bridges - all great at getting those posterior muscles going.  Literally squeezing your a** when leaning over 😳 will help keep it conscious to engage those supporting muscles!

 

Some mobility exercises / dynamic stretches:  bent over windmills, side bends, yoga stretches like cat/cow, child pose, cobra, Jefferson curl, "world's greatest stretch".

 

I can only say for myself that doing some of these exercises daily has almost eliminated my low back pain.  I'm sure fitness trainers and PT people would recommend similar things.  Lastly, you can focus on the lower back area, but you have to work the entire body to prevent imbalances, like tight hip flexors, which might be why we have low back pain to begin with!

Edited January 19, 2021 by joostin

[Barfolomew]

On 1/13/2021 at 4:46 PM, 11bravoveteran said:

Swinging in general doesn’t bother my back but putting practice is the worst for any length of time on the old back...

 

That's one of the reason I use a 41" putter and putt standing straight up like Ray Floyd or even Rickie.  Don't know how guys practice a lot putting bent over like Jack...

[Obee]

On 1/17/2021 at 7:41 PM, Long_Left said:

Great to hear it! Just for some insight into my experience, it took about 6 weeks or so for the feeling of "pressure" to subside, I know that the pressure was "pain" before the shot and it was about that long before I trusted that I wasn't going to move slightly wrong and bring it all back. Here's to your recovery and enjoying golf!

 

 

 

Well, back to square one. Played yesterday and the pain was awful. So depressed.

 

Finally gave in and got a prescription for a narcotic for when I have a big round/tournament and now going in for a consult on nerve ablation/surgery.

 

[jonsnow]

Golf is bad for the back? I'll tell you what is bad for the back: getting older. I'm not about to stop getting older or playing golf...

 

I always say I'm getting older, never say I'm getting old. Old sounds so permanent; older sounds like it could last a long time.

[Long_Left]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

 

Well, back to square one. Played yesterday and the pain was awful. So depressed.

 

Finally gave in and got a prescription for a narcotic for when I have a big round/tournament and now going in for a consult on nerve ablation/surgery.

 

I'm truly sorry to hear it, I hope you find relief sooner than later. I know that chronic pain can change you as a person, keep your head up and keep looking for answers!

[Mike_Honcho]

yeah, i can't hit the range very often because that aggravates my back...playing, not so much but a bucket of 100 gets me all out of sorts.

[Gsea]

Golf isn't bad for the back, bad backs don't work with golf.

[RoyalMustang]

I would agree with you!  So would my wife, who is a DPT. She is worried about me (I am in my mid 40s) and she doesn't want me breaking down. We are going to start doing strengthening and balancing exercises.  

 

I just started playing in July and you can see how underdeveloped my left lat is vs. my right lat already. She noticed it the other night.  It is also the lack of muscle in the lower back, just below where my lat attaches.  She said this could cause uneven rotation in my spine and compensation, eventually leading to problems and part of spine working way too hard.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by RoyalMustang

[A.Princey]

Simply stated, I don't think all backs will succumb to the golf swing. However, nothing about the "proper" golf swing does anything beneficial for the back, aside from keeping a person from becoming super rigid, and stiff. Any lower back issues will not be readily soothed by the golf swing ALONE, only made worse. 

Edited January 22, 2021 by A.Princey

[A.Princey]

Now this is an extreme case, but the clearing of the waist to allow the belt buckle at the target really puts a ton of stress on the lumbar as the thoracic vertebrae are maintained and the hips twist parallel to the ground plane. 

 

This is not a natural body position at any point and time, and is clearly made worse by the motion that's involved to achieve it. I'm not trying to make enemies, but repeated contortion of the body like this will ultimately lead to muscle/ligament/tendon/cartilage failure of some kind if done enough times. 

Edited January 22, 2021 by A.Princey

[A.Princey]

<delete>

Edited January 22, 2021 by A.Princey

[CBJ]

On 1/19/2021 at 1:22 PM, Obee said:

 

Well, back to square one. Played yesterday and the pain was awful. So depressed.

 

Finally gave in and got a prescription for a narcotic for when I have a big round/tournament and now going in for a consult on nerve ablation/surgery.

 

sorry to hear about that, I had 2 separate outpatient injections in October for L4/L5, issues are coming back

 

Im having same procedure on C6/C7 next week.

 

Ultimately I think I’ll need surgery.

[Obee]

1 hour ago, A.Princey said:

Now this is an extreme case, but the clearing of the waist to allow the belt buckle at the target really puts a ton of stress on the lumbar as the thoracic vertebrae are maintained and the hips twist parallel to the ground plane. 

 

This is not a natural body position at any point and time, and is clearly made worse by the motion that's involved to achieve it. I'm not trying to make enemies, but repeated contortion of the body like this will ultimately lead to muscle/ligament/tendon/cartilage failure of some kind if done enough times. 

 

Absolutely. Thank you.

[GolfTurkey]

On 1/20/2021 at 11:52 PM, RoyalMustang said:

I would agree with you!  So would my wife, who is a DPT. She is worried about me (I am in my mid 40s) and she doesn't want me breaking down. We are going to start doing strengthening and balancing exercises.  

 

I just started playing in July and you can see how underdeveloped my left lat is vs. my right lat already. She noticed it the other night.  It is also the lack of muscle in the lower back, just below where my lat attaches.  She said this could cause uneven rotation in my spine and compensation, eventually leading to problems and part of spine working way too hard.

 

 

 

Is it just me or is that picture a really creative humble brag? 😁 I'm more concerned about my back fat, winging scap and the bits and pieces regularly falling off than a slightly uneven lat!

[RoyalMustang]

8 hours ago, GolfTurkey said:

 

Is it just me or is that picture a really creative humble brag? 😁 I'm more concerned about my back fat, winging scap and the bits and pieces regularly falling off than a slightly uneven lat!

 

haha!  It does always seem that the PT and her husband have the bodies that are constantly breaking down-the last thing she wants to do is work on me when she gets home at night. I have had pieces fall off before too-too many casts to count. 

[LCP]

The typical tour pro swing is a disaster for the back.  And gee look, how many have back problems?  And well before they're old too. The young guys swinging in the 120's now are going to be a back disaster minefield before age 40 for most of them.

 

At 49 now, still swinging over 110, I've been finding ways that are much more ergonomic and back healthy.  It starts with a more vertical posture.  Then moving to a middle or slightly back ball position for irons.  More neutral AoA.  No weird artificial restriction of hip rotation or any other "learned" movements.  For the big clubs, the big changer has been Bryson's single plane swing.  The driver and woods off the tee is where you tend to overdo things and swing hard, and then back gets injured, as you try and get in that impact position.  Bryson's swing is very back safe and doesn't create any "crunch point" in your lower back (it's straight too!)

[Petethreeput]

On 1/19/2021 at 12:22 PM, Obee said:

 

Well, back to square one. Played yesterday and the pain was awful. So depressed.

 

Finally gave in and got a prescription for a narcotic for when I have a big round/tournament and now going in for a consult on nerve ablation/surgery.

 

After my third surgery I asked my surgeon about muscle relaxers so I keep golfing. He laughed and said “Not a chance. Opioids to golf? That’s not an option, have a few beers beforehand and it’s similar.”

i also warm up on the chipping green going from short swings to extended swing flop shots because they are slower swings but gets my back extending and stretching.

Just a couple of thoughts from a non-MD.

[Obee]

3 hours ago, Petethreeput said:

After my third surgery I asked my surgeon about muscle relaxers so I keep golfing. He laughed and said “Not a chance. Opioids to golf? That’s not an option, have a few beers beforehand and it’s similar.”

i also warm up on the chipping green going from short swings to extended swing flop shots because they are slower swings but gets my back extending and stretching.

Just a couple of thoughts from a non-MD.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, muscle relaxers are not opioids. Vicodin, Norco, etc. are schedule 2 opioids, with things like fentanyl and oxycontin being schedule 1 opioids.

 

Doctor gave me a prescription for 10 Norco. I took one before I played no Friday. Did not help. So ... I'm phucked.

[ChaosTheory]

6 hours ago, Obee said:

 

Unless I'm mistaken, muscle relaxers are not opioids. Vicodin, Norco, etc. are schedule 2 opioids, with things like fentanyl and oxycontin being schedule 1 opioids.

 

Doctor gave me a prescription for 10 Norco. I took one before I played no Friday. Did not help. So ... I'm phucked.

Take a rest and then please try the Moe Norman swing.  Just try it.

[hoselpalooza]

9 hours ago, Obee said:

 

Unless I'm mistaken, muscle relaxers are not opioids. Vicodin, Norco, etc. are schedule 2 opioids, with things like fentanyl and oxycontin being schedule 1 opioids.

 

Doctor gave me a prescription for 10 Norco. I took one before I played no Friday. Did not help. So ... I'm phucked.

 

 

god bless you, brother. i've really appreciated a lot of your posts here, especially regarding the short game. i pray that you find a way to continue enjoying golf pain-free. 🤞🙏❤️

[Obee]

2 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

Take a rest and then please try the Moe Norman swing.  Just try it.

I already kinda do....

[Nels55]

11 hours ago, Obee said:

I already kinda do....

Hi Obee, I have battled lower back pain for years.  The methods that I have found that actually do make it easier on my back to practice and play are arm swing methods such as Jim Venetos method or possibly Karan Kanwar's minimalist swing.  If I remember correctly from other posts you are are really good golfer so I assume that you probably have a good well sequenced swing which would make learning an arm powered swing a rather large departure from your norm.  Possibly not something that you would want to do?

 

Also I highly recommend Muscle Activation Technique as that has been a game changer for my back problems.

 

Well, I hope that you get your back issues sorted whatever the way forward may be!  Nels

[Obee]

13 hours ago, Snowman9000 said:

Take a rest and then please try the Moe Norman swing.  Just try it.

 

This is my swing. The set-up is textbook Moe. 🙂

 

 

 

[ChaosTheory]

9 hours ago, Obee said:

 

This is my swing. The set-up is textbook Moe. 🙂

Video deleted.

 

Yes, I agree. Good luck!

[Ri_Redneck]

I learned that there are two things that can limit the amount your body can twist - Your core muscles and your spine. I used to stretch my core so that I had the widest rotation range I could get. When I hit a lot of balls, my back would get sore. I was in my late 20's. I I realized that I had lengthened my core muscles to the point that my spine was what I was using to accelerate! I stopped the excessive stretching of my core muscles and relied on them to provide the resistance for my forward swing and the back problems went away. So, flexibility is a good thing, but too much can be a bad thing. I'm nearing 60 and still have a CHS in the 110 range. No back pain to speak of. Now if I could just get my arthritis under control.

 

BT

[Nels55]

2 hours ago, Ri_Redneck said:

I learned that there are two things that can limit the amount your body can twist - Your core muscles and your spine. I used to stretch my core so that I had the widest rotation range I could get. When I hit a lot of balls, my back would get sore. I was in my late 20's. I I realized that I had lengthened my core muscles to the point that my spine was what I was using to accelerate! I stopped the excessive stretching of my core muscles and relied on them to provide the resistance for my forward swing and the back problems went away. So, flexibility is a good thing, but too much can be a bad thing. I'm nearing 60 and still have a CHS in the 110 range. No back pain to speak of. Now if I could just get my arthritis under control.

 

BT

Flexibility without the strength to support the range of motion is not good.  This is a fundamental of Muscle Activation Technique.  

I am very impressed with your ability to figure that out on your own 30 years ago!  Nice work!

[nitram]

On 1/24/2021 at 10:42 PM, Obee said:

I already kinda do....

Ballard brother. I have two guys in my regular group, one about your age and another probably 65. Both have had their backs trashed from careers in the oil patch. The younger has had 4 fusions and was told to forget about golf. He went to a Ballard teacher (still does) and he's been playing to a -1 for the past 2 years. Same story for the older guy, a steady -3 who went to Ballard about 10 years ago after being unable to drive a car and told he'd never play golf again. They both hit low line drives with every club and while neither are the longest, they're teeing it up everyday. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by nitram

[pgatw]

If you use nothing else from Ballard, getting your fanny under is imperative. This is almost a must for those of us with bad back issues. The stabilization and core engagement this provides was a game changer for my automobile accident destroyed back. Percy Boomer eons ago, in On Learning Golf talks about the importance of pelvic placement.  Give it a try, could help.

[wantacigar]

IMHO, the stretching and "physical therapy" stuff will help.  I've been doing "Stack and Tilt" with a little open stance and I have not had any back pain.  I also thoroughly stretch before I even swing a club whether on the range or before a round.  There are a few good YT channels that have some good tips and training.  Jess Frank is one and you can go down that rabbit hole from there.