Narrow stance - pain around mid back

Hackinator · June 6, 2023

Could a narrow stance cause pain around mid to upper back?

I also changed my distance to the ball, so I am actually closer to the ball, less bent over.

This was for reasons of having better balance in my swing.

Can this pain have something to do with my narrow stance and being a bit more upright in my stance?

I thought I was performing a more back friendly swing, but in reality, it seems to be harsher on the back.

phizzy30 · June 7, 2023

Possibly. Could be a pinched nerve, herniated disc or muscle strain. Probably be best to go see an ortho and get some scans done if needed.

johnrobison · June 7, 2023

17 hours ago, Hackinator said:

Could a narrow stance cause pain around mid to upper back?

I also changed my distance to the ball, so I am actually closer to the ball, less bent over.

This was for reasons of having better balance in my swing.

Can this pain have something to do with my narrow stance and being a bit more upright in my stance?

I thought I was performing a more back friendly swing, but in reality, it seems to be harsher on the back.

A wide stance provides support and stability and allows your hip musculature to work correctly. Of course, too wide will prevent that so there's an in between. But if your stance is excessively narrow, the forces that should be transferred to and absorbed by the hip and leg muscles won't be. This could stress the lumbar musculature and not allow those muscles to "protect" the lumbar spine.

Also, You need hip hinge to rotate correctly so being less bent over could exacerbate the issue, as well.

Having said all that... We don't know whether your stance is narrow or wide or whether you're too bent over or upright. What you think is narrow could be just right, for all I know. Without seeing your setup, the responses are really just in the abstract. Could a narrow stance cause back pain? Sure. So could a wide stance. Is your stance narrow or wide? Dunno.

torbill · June 8, 2023

A narrow stance encourages more twisting/rotation. Which is OK if you let your hips rotate so as to reduce the shearing stress on the lumbar. But, if you restrict your hip motion, more twisting due to a narrow stance is going to create greater shear stresses in the back and any sports medicine expert is going to tell you that lower backs were not meant for heavy shear stresses. So yes, a narrow stance may contribute to your problem, depending…

Hard to imagine that standing closer to the ball would be a contributor. If anything that might promote increased connection and better balance, but likely not increased stresses in the back.

Pepperturbo · June 8, 2023

One's stance, narrow or otherwise, does not lead to low-mid back problems. My stance narrows when I have short irons in hand and widens as the club gets longer. Never had any back problems, been playing for over 30yrs, and I swing pretty hard too.

Genetics or something else is the root cause. Get it checked out.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Pepperturbo

golfarb1 · June 9, 2023

The first definition of a “ back friendly “swing is to setup with a “ Neutral Spine”.

A “Neutral Spine” is defined as as a spine in which the 3 natural curvatures -lordosis or inward curvature in the lower spine , kyphosis or outward curvature in the middle spine and lordosis in the cervical ( or neck) spine are present and aligned .A “ Neutral Spine “ is the position of the spine which encourages the largest amount of mobility and which minimizes the potential for injuries .
That does not mean that that these natural spine curvatures should be exaggerated . Many golfers do not setup with a “ Neutral spine “ due to poor posture exacerbated by sitting in front of a computer and are creating possible mobility restrictions and injuries in the future .
Will Zalatoris was an example of a golfer who created possible problems with his spine setup. Combining his spine setup with the large torque that he created in his downswing is a recipe for back issues

Edited June 9, 2023 by golfarb1