Golf Injuries
Tennis Elbow - Believe it or not more golfers complain of tennis elbow pain than golfers elbow.
Tennis elbow symptoms are normally seen on the outside of the elbow. Pain is exacerbated by gripping the clubs too hard, and repetition through playing too much.
Golfers Elbow - Pain on the inside of the elbow. Commonly caused by taking too large a divot or again by playing in excess.
Neck and Back Pain - Everyday postures and strains of work can culminate in neck and low back pain. Quite often golfers complain of pain in their neck or back after their round. This is associated with poor sitting posture. Excessive standing and walking will cause central low back pain when they are playing, again due to poor posture but also poor core stability and flexibility.
Hip Pain - Most right-handed golfers complain of left sided hip pain. The reason for this is quite simple – your golf swing rotates around a relatively fixed left hip. Quite often the older golfer will splay their left foot towards the target at address, allowing them to swing through fully.
Knee Pain - Right inside knee pain is very common in right-handed golfers who do not push up onto their right foot on follow through i.e., they punch the ball and keep their right foot on the ground. This can cause medial ligament and medial cartilage strains.
Foot and Ankle Pain - The average golf course is 4 miles in length if you walk in a straight line! The importance of good comfortable fitting shoes cannot be stressed enough. Commonly golfers complain of Achilles pain, especially on their right heel, plantar fasciitis (heel pain) and metatarsalgia (pain over the pads of your feet). All these symptoms can be alleviated with treatment and a specific stretching programme.
Wrist Pain - The amateur golfer quite often attempts to swing the club at the same speed and vigour as the professionals. An ill timed shot hitting the turf before ball, or worse a deep tree root can cause tendon and joint damage to the wrist joints.
Shoulder Pain - One of the most common injuries seen in Lisburn Golf Physiotherapy are shoulder impingement injuries. Most are rotator cuff injuries in both shoulders, but more so on the right for right-handed golfers. As a result of the pain golfers tend to compensate by swinging around their torso and flatten their swing plane, resulting, usually, in loss of distance and slice.