Today I would like to present a patient success story in which a combination of physical therapy and golf instruction helped a patient eliminate low back pain with golf.
My patient Jennifer is a 62 year old female who came to physical therapy for general low back pain which was worst first thing in the morning and was irritated by playing golf. At the time she was just learning to play golf as a social activity with her friends. She was taking lessons at the time, and playing golf 1-2 times per week but she noticed her back pain was progressively getting worse the more she played golf.
Based on x-rays and my evaluation it was determined that Jennifer had mild to moderate facet joint arthritis in her lumbar spine, which was responsible for her back pain with golf, and leading to generalized low back pain during her day to day activity.
During my PT evaluation and golf swing analysis I found a few key factors that were contributing to aggravation of the lower back.
From a golf perspective Jennifer displayed excessive S-posture at address, and both sway and slide in her swing (see below image for details on these motions). Both of these swing faults can lead to increased compression of the facet joints in the lumbar spine and cause pain.
From a physical perspective I found the following issues in my evaluation and Physical Assessment Screen:
1) Limited hip internal rotation
This likely leads to excessive rotation of the lumbar spine due to lack of available hip rotation. She needed lower body mobility for golf.
2) Limited thoracic spine rotation
This likely lead to excessive rotation of the lumbar spine due to lack of available thoracic spine rotation. She needed thoracic mobility for golf.
3) Gluteal muscle weakness
Jennifer did not have the strength to stabilize her hips to prevent either sway or slide.
4) Abdominal muscle weakness
Jennifer’s abdominals were not strong enough to maintain neutral posture throughout her swing. She needed to find, and strengthen her core.
This combination of physical impairments is very common and was a recipe for low back pain with golf for Jennifer.
In physical therapy, as the name suggests were able to address all of the physical causes contributing to her low back pain. With manual therapy and exercise were able to regain the range of motion, strength and stability needed to execute an efficient golf swing without pain.
Luckily Jennifer had already been working with a great golf coach. We were able to have an open dialogue about her current physical abilities and what swing characteristics were most important to prevent low back pain in her swing. We agreed that we needed to address her starting posture, while preventing sway and slide during her swing. With Jennifer’s improved strength and flexibility, her coach was able to implement these characteristics in her swing and she was able to return to golf without pain or limitation. She was actually playing better golf at the end of this process too!
In conclusion I would like to highlight the importance of a team approach in helping our patients reach their goals. In this case the golf coach was the final piece of the puzzle in helping Jennifer reach her ultimate goal. If you have back pain with golf make sure you download our guide to start getting rid of this right away!
blog image: https://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/back-pain/low-back-pain/spine-doctors-treatment-moderate-low-back-pain
