In my Doylestown chiropractic practice, I regularly see golf injuries when the weather turns nice. Sometimes it’s back pain or rotator cuff pain. Sometimes it’s wrist pain.
It may come as a shock but golf is actually a pretty injury-ridden sport. Often, golf injuries happen because people aren’t properly warmed up or because they practice the same repetitive motions frequently.
And it’s not surprising when you think about it. Spending several hours hunched over is enough to give anyone lower back pain. Then, when you think about the repetitive motion of swinging the clubs through the air, the THWACK of connecting with the ball, and the twist of your spine, there are plenty of opportunities for injury.
According to the MayoClinic, golf injuries are typically caused by overuse — such as logging lots of tee time after spending a sedentary winter.
Another reason golf injuries occur is through misalignment, you probably know it’s important to bend from the waist and follow through on your swing but many golfers hunch their necks and shoulders and THEN swing. That’s a good way to injure yourself.
3 Ways to Protect Yourself from Golf Injuries:
Increase Your Flexibility
Make sure you take the time to warm up before you play a round of golf. Bend over and touch your toes and simply hang there. When you stand, you can put your hands on your waist and do a few gentle twists back and forth.
You can do a few runners stretches and rotate your shoulders forward and backward and circle your head a few times. Rotate your wrists. A common complaint is wrist pain, which can come from holding the club too tightly or simply the repetitive action. You may be aware that carpal tunnel syndrome stems from repetitive motion. You can make it a habit to rotate your wrists – on and off the course. Stretch your fingers too. These movements will help prevent carpal tunnel.
The more limber you are before you play, the better off you’ll be.
Work Up to Your First Full Round to Reduce Risk of Golf Injuries
This is especially true if you’ve been sedentary for the last several months. You’ve probably heard it before but if you’re out of condition, you can easily hurt yourself. You’ve probably heard of someone who pulled a muscle doing a simple task like getting the clubs out of the car or swinging the club. You can prevent such injuries by warming your body up first.
Practice at the driving range. Play 9 holes instead of 18. Do another type of exercise in between golf games — even walking will help. What you don’t want to do is go from sitting behind a desk all day for months and then hit the greens on the first nice day and overdo it.
Always Practice Good Form
You want to bend from your hips, not hunch your head, shoulders, and upper back. The latter is likely to cause strain in your neck and shoulders. Use a consistent swing rather than sinking all your power into your first point of impact Swinging too hard or fast stresses your joints.
When you maintain a flexible spine, that helps your golf game. One of the best ways to protect yourself from golf injuries is to practice yoga stretches regularly. Getting regular chiropractic care helps too.
I find that golfers often have their shoulders and hips out of alignment which puts stress on your joints and can cause pain in your lower back, rotator cuff and even your knees or wrists.
Chiropractic adjustments realign your shoulders and hips so you get pain relief. When muscles, tendons, and bones are out of alignment — even by a few centimeters– that can put a lot of pressure on your nerves and joints.
Don’t spend the summer sitting on the sidelines! Take precautions so that you can enjoy your golf game injury-free for many years to come.
Did you see the Women’s Cycling event in the Olympics? If you didn’t, the lead biker took a massive spill on the pavement towards the end of the race. Ouch!
That put an American Mara Abbott in the lead for roughly 20 excruiting minutes. In the final seconds, three others overtook her and she came in 4th. It was painful to watch the Gold slip from her hands so quickly.
It serves as a reminder that games are won and lost in seconds and sometimes there are serious injuries. Even injuries that seem less serious than skidding on the pavement at 50 miles an hour, can sideline athletes. Take the hamstring for example. Your hamstrings run down the backs of your thighs and Health Insights Today says that they’re one of the most common (and costly) sports injuries out there. For years, traditional sports medicine has chalked them up to poor flexibility or inadequate warm up but more recent knowledge shows that there is an underlying cause which is directly addressed by chiropractic care.
It’s not surprising. Chiropractic care addresses your entire body and helps keep it in tip top shape.
How does that relate to hamstring injuries? Well, your feet, knees, hips, pelvis and lower back are all connected. When one area is out of alignment it can throw everything out of balance. Poor posture, joint restrictions and micro muscle imbalances can all contribute to potential injury. If you suffer a hand or wrist injury and are in need of a surgeon in the state of New York then it may be in your best wishes to check out this HandSport Surgery Institute for further help and support to treat your injury.
The body is a finely tuned instrument and daily habits cause things to migrate away from their proper places. There’s a reason a good trainer or coach harps on proper form. When you’re not in proper form, that’s when injuries can occur. Chiropractic adjustments re align the body so that every muscle, nerve, and tissue is put back into its proper place.
That’s one of the reasons professional athletes have massage therapists and chiropractors as part of their routine. Both massage and chiropractic care can soothe sore muscles as well as help players stay in top condition and even prevent injury.
Now that August is here, high school sports teams start practicing for the fall season. As you know, top performing players win accolades, trophies and college scholarships. If your student athlete is hoping to be part of the college roster you want to help him or her use every advantage so they can perform their best. Chiropractic care can help keep your student in top shape and prevent injuries.
If you’re in Doylestown, PA, we’re located right across the street from CB West and will be happy to offer a free consultation.
Summer…you may have visions of outdoor BBQ’s, and maybe, moving your exercise program outdoors. Kayaking, golfing, biking, running…these are popular summer activities around Doylestown. However, as a chiropractor, I see frequent summer sports injuries.
They’re usually caused by an overly zealous exercise program.
If you’ve spend the past several months watching Game of Thrones rather than at the gym, take it easy at first. You’re better off with shorter exercise sessions than one mammoth one that will leave you exhausted, sore and possibly hurt.
You also want to make sure you have the proper form in whatever you’re doing. Take golfing for instance, some weekend golfers hunch their shoulders when they hit the ball rather than bending from the waist. The “hunched shoulder” technique puts a lot of strain on your neck. Plus, swinging a golf club a hundred times or more in a round of golf can lead to a sore rotator cuff and lower back. The same goes for tennis players; a really common injury for you is twisted ankles as a result of not positioning yourself correctly in readiness to receive the ball. Your main line of thought might be ‘what is my tennis rating‘ but your health should come first, and an injury could also cause some serious damage to your future in the sport.
Practice proper form and be careful when you lift your golf club bag.
If you’re a runner, you know there’s a difference between running on a treadmill and running outside. For example, you may hit dirt or gravel trails or you may run on pavement. Each of these surfaces require hundreds of micro-adjustments with every step.
In daily life and in sports, your body develops certain habits which affect your posture and pull your body out of alignment. When you’re misaligned, you may be more injury-prone.
How Chiropractic Care Can Protect
Your Body From Summer Sports Injuries
If you’ve never been to a chiropractor before, you may not be aware of how the process works or how it can benefit more than your back.
In simple terms, daily life puts stresses on your body. You may spend hours a day sitting hunched over a computer. Such posture strains your upper back, shoulders and neck and creates misalignment in your body called “subluxation.”
A chiropractic treatment realigns your body. When your bones and muscles are in alignment with one another you experience pain relief because your bone isn’t pushing on a nerve. You can also have better form on the playing field and perform better.
Famous athletes from Tiger Woods to Arnold Schwarzenegger have relied on regular chiropractic treatments to give them an advantage. So have many Olympic gold medalists. You can track their progress on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. If you’re thinking about trying to win a gold medal, you may want to do the same, set up an Instagram account to get things started and, gain a fan base! You could also look at getting some free followers in sites similar to socialfollow.
Just as star athletes protect their bodies by taking care of it, you can too. Regular chiropractic adjustments keep your body in alignment, and help protect you from injury.
Enjoy your summer and take a extra care to prevent summer sports injuries. If you need chiropractic care and you’re in the Doylestown area, give us a call at 267-247-7000. We offer a free consultation.
School’s in session which means every afternoon the streets of Doylestown are filled with running packs of high school athletes.
They run to get in shape for their sports no matter the weather — even in the 90+ degree days we had recently.
But the biggest concern isn’t the heat in the waning days of summer but sports related injuries they’re likely to take on through the season.
Concussions are the most common injury. According to this report from the National Academies, High school players are almost twice as likely to suffer a brain injury while playing as a college player. The reasons are many and vary from lack of protection, various levels of physical maturity – this is a big one — to lack of knowledge among the coaches and parents.
Another common injury is to the spine. You know when a football player bends his head when tackling or blocking? This flexes the cervical spine and bypasses its shock absorbing capacities. The result is strain on the cervical spine and surrounding muscles.
Knee injuries and concussions are common in soccer. The uneven playing surface (and falling) may be to blame on the wear and tear on the knees. Obviously, the concussions can come from bouncing a soccer ball off one’s head.
How Do You Combat These Sports Related Injuries?
As with most things, education and good habits are a good place to start. It’s hard to believe in today’s hyper vigilant society but there was a time when football players didn’t wear helmets – oh right – they still don’t in rugby.
Obviously, making use of the protections available are good practices. So are mixing up the training styles so muscles don’t get over worked. However, the fact is, when you’re training 15+ hours a week, you’re putting a lot of pressure on your body.
Regular stretching will help prevent sports-related injuries as well as using good form. Both of these your student athletes should be getting at school.
However, chiropractic treatments can also keep your child in tip-top shape. The reason is because chiropractic care “puts back” what gets knocked out of alignment in sports practices and games. That relieves pain naturally because your bones and muscle tissue are where they need to be instead of one pushing up against the other.
Plus, keeping your body properly aligned can maximize your output because your immune system is boosted.
If your child is already suffering with a sports related injury, chiropractic care can help with immediate and long-term pain since it’s designed to focus on the spinal column which affects everything else in your body.
Dr. Jeff McQuaite is a Doylestown chiropractor conveniently located directly across from CB West. His warm and approachable style is sure to set your student athlete at ease. You can take advantage of his new patient special here.
Now that it’s golfing season here in Bucks County, you may find yourself playing a round or two at The Bucks Club or Pinecrest or one of our many other local golf courses. If you’d like to improve your golf game – injury free – you may find preventative chiropractic care beneficial.
After all, it’s no fun to sit out golf rounds due to back pain.
It’s no surprise that golfers often experience back pain. Swinging a golf club at speed of 65 mph or more twists your body in an unnatural way. Most golfers go in for the “power swing” emulating the pros but they’re not in shape and don’t warm up well before hitting the green. Many people also use wedges. The combination sets you up for injury. It pulls your ligaments, tendons, and muscles in this area and can end your golfing career if you’re not careful.
You can golf as much as you want, so long as you are in shape and go to your chiropractor regularly. It’s now so easy for people to practice golf as well, as they can easily practice in their own homes using a golf simulator if they wanted. However, even though it’s now a lot easier to practice golf, the important thing is that you stay in shape so that you don’t cause an injury to yourself. You will want to make sure that you are in the best health every time to take a swing at a golf ball.
Not only are PGA golfers in better shape than most amateur golfers but Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, and 2015 Masters Champ Jordan Spieth all see chiropractors to prevent injury. It’s important that you do take care of yourself, just like Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, and Jordan Spieth, as you will want to make sure that you can enjoy golfing as much as you can. It’s also important to take care of yourself if you are planning on going on a golfing holiday at some point in the future.
Why Chiropractic Care Can Ease Your Golf Back Pain and Improve Your Game
A 2009 study in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine conducted a study with 43 golfers divided into random groups. One group practiced stretching exercises while the other group stretched and received chiropractic treatments.
After four weeks, the group who’d stretched and received chiropractic care were able to hit the ball farther faster than the group who’d only practiced the stretching exercises.
When you think about it, it makes sense. After all, regular chiropractic care keeps your body in alignment which helps your back and shoulders stay loose so you have greater range of movement. That means your body is ready to hit the ball faster. It also means you have less chance of experiencing “golf back pain” because your muscles aren’t too tight.
How It Works
Traditional chiropractic care – like that practiced by Dr. Jeff McQuaite – conducts Xrays first to see “what’s going on inside.” Those will show why you’re having pain. Often your muscles are out of alignment and pressing on nerves. Other times, bone can be rubbing against bone. Maybe you’ve got a slipped or herniated disc. There are many reasons why you could be in pain.
Once the problem is clear, he’ll perform a series of adjustments on your back, neck, and shoulder area to re-align your body and get you back on the golf course quickly.
In addition to regular chiropractic care, stretch your arms and shoulder well before you go out. A series of arm swings and a couple of sets of shoulder shrugs will help. After your round, take a few minutes and stretch again.
Take care of yourself so you can enjoy the Bucks County golf season. After all, winter will be here again before you know it.
The air is turning cooler and football is on TV again. It can only mean one thing. Football season.
If your high school athlete plays football, you know how common injuries are in this sport. Concussions, dislocated shoulders, broken ankles, it’s common for players to get sidelined with injuries. Help prevent them by ensuring your athlete stays safe and gets extra preventive care.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high school athletes suffer 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations every year.
Furthermore, the American Chiropractic Association reports three times as many catastrophic high school football injuries as college football. One reason may because high school athletes may be focusing on college scholarships and are more apt to push themselves (or be pushed by coaches and parents) who don’t realize they’re truly injured. Many of these athletes will Use eisenberg, rothweiler, winkler, eisenberg & jeck, p.c. or similar legal firms to make a legal claim if there is potential fault to be found in the coaching or other areas.
The majority of serious accidents compress the neck. High school football players can reduce this risk by not bending their head when they go into a tackle. They can also reduce risk of injury by staying in shape year round and warming up and cooling down properly.
If they’ve suffered previous injuries, bones are usually already weakened so be aware of that danger.
Your Chiropractor Can Help Prevent Injury
Physicals and pre-screening can show where stress points lie so your student athlete can discuss preventive measures with his coach. There may be an opportunity to strengthen weak areas and protect them better if everyone knows about them.
In the medical profession, there’s a “gold standard” for prescreening that can assess the player before the season starts and help develop a treatment plan for injury prevention.
It’s no secret that football is hard on the body. By paying attention in the pre-season and having regular check-ups through the season, you may be able to prevent serious or recurring injuries.
One of those regular check-ups is through chiropractic adjustments to realign the body and catch minor injuries before they turn into major ones that can leave your student athlete sidelined.
If you’re in the Central Bucks region, Dr. Jeff McQuaite is conveniently located across the street from Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown.