Golf
Low back pain is the number one injury sustained by golfers, accounting for up to 34.5% of all injuries (Finn 313).
Why it can injure:
The core muscles are constantly used during the swing, creating a high potential for fatigue and injury. Compensatory muscles that may secondarily assist the fatiguing core are also at risk (Finn 317).
The modern swing is suspected of being a major source of injury suffered by golfers. This is likely due to the twisting motion of the lumbar spine at the top of the backswing, with subsequent rotation in the opposite direction and hyperextension through the downswing and follow-through (Vad 494).
Tips to prevent injury:
- Try to increase the range of hip turn and decrease the amount of shoulder turn (Vad 496).
- Also, try to increase the range of hip turn on the backswing to reduce the relative amount of spinal rotation or torsion (Lindsay).
- Try using a shortened backswing on ball-contact accuracy and club head speed. Results showed that restricting the backswing by almost 20% had no negative effect on swing performance (e.g. ball-contact accuracy and club head speed) (Lindsay).
- Have a proper club fit to body specifications
- Play consistently
- Push a cart instead of pulling
- Utilizing a long putter may decrease stress and strain on the lumbar spine throughout a round of golf.
- Carrying a golf bag with a single strap may be hazardous to the lower back, shoulder, and ankle. The dual “backpack strap” distributes the clubs more evenly across both shoulders (Finn 318).
- Add strength training with a focus on dynamic lumbar stabilization techniques and rotational flexibility training.
- Assume a more upright stance
- Warm up (Gluck 786)
Tennis
Low back injuries are common among competitive tennis players. General agreement exists that mechanical stress to the spine is related to the development of degenerative disc disease in the lumbar region (Chow).
Why it can injure:
The kinetic data revealed in one study was that the main difference between the pain and no pain groups was that the pain group utilised significantly greater force when bending to the side (lateral flexion) during the drive phase of both kick and flat serves than the no pain group…it is proposed that the significantly higher lateral flexion force observed in the current study’s pain group, combined with high forces when jumping vertically while the lumbar spine extends back and laterally flexes forward during the drive phase of the tennis serve, is a potential mechanism for tissue strain and lower back pain in adolescent tennis players (Campbell 1566).
Internal rotation deficits in the dominant lead shoulder (bringing the arm forward and across the body) as well as in the lead hip (rotating the hip inward towards the midline) are highly correlated to the presence of shoulder pain and lower back pain (LBP) respectively. It is theorised that due to repetitive demands on the dominant shoulder and repetitive pivoting at the lead hip, the cycle of microtrauma and scar formation leads to reduction in that internal range of motion. This decrease in internal rotation may decrease efficiency of force production, thereby increasing the chance of injury, perpetuating and worsening the cycle (Vad 74).
Tips to prevent injury:
- Add weight lifting into your training schedule. This will help to increase the bone mineral content in the lumbar vertebrae so that the spine can tolerate the extraordinary loads that are placed on it during play (Chow).
- Incorporate abdominal endurance exercises to help combat trunk fatigue (Correia 315).
- Opt using a one-handed backhand over a two-handed backhand. The increase in trunk rotation during a two-handed backswing may be a contributing factor in low back problems in tennis players (Fanchiang).
- Try the torso stretch- this stretch simulates ground strokes and is most important to prevent back muscle pulls and low back strain.
- Your right hand is placed behind the right iliac crest (bony prominence on the front part of your hip across from your belly button) with the palm against the crest.
- The left hand then reaches across the chest to point toward the right elbow.
- Now the right hand pushes forward on the hip and the left hand reaches back as far as possible to the right elbow.
- Count to 10 at the extreme of the stretch and then repeat the maneuver to the right.
- Three repetitions on each side complete the exercise (Kulund 251).
