Golf has become one of the nation’s most popular sports with a participation rate of 19.5%.
On the surface, the physical demands of golf appear minimal; however, probing deeper reveals that the golf swing actually produces forces of up to 8 times an individual’s body weight. Combining these forces with the repetitive nature of the sport, it is not surprising that low back pain constitutes 26-52% of all golf-related injuries. In addition, trunk muscle imbalances, poor biomechanics, and a lack of flexibility specifically in the leading hip have been cited as possible causes for golf-related low back pain. (Gluck, 2008)
With such a high incidence of low back pain, prevention becomes quite important. The prevention of low back pain in golfers is multi-faceted and involves altering swing biomechanics, strengthening the spinal stabilizers, improving hip and rotational flexibility as well as a good warm-up prior to playing (Gluck, 2008). Moran et al. (2009) recommends incorporating dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching into the warm-up as this was found to improve both the distance and accuracy of shots using a 5-iron.
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Use this foam roller exercise to help relax the hip abductors. Shutting these muscles off will prevent inhibition of the opposing adductor muscles, allowing you to strengthen them more efficiently.
Start
- On ground, lying with foam roll under your hip.
Procedure
- Lie on your side and roll over the small lump of muscle between your hip and pelvis.
Coaching Keys
- The more uncomfortable it is, the more that muscle needs to be massaged. Hold on sore spots for an extended time to release them.
Feel it?
You should feel as if you were getting a massage.
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An important part of effective pre-season training is the specificity of your exercises. Strengthening your adductors in hockey-like positions will translate into better injury prevention, so try this exercise using a variety of hip angles.
Start
Procedure
- Step to the right with the right foot keeping toes forward and feet flat.
- Squat through your right hip while keeping your left leg straight.
- Bring left foot into a squat position and repeat for prescribed number of repetitions.
- Switch directions and repeat.
Coaching Keys
- Keep knee on squatting side behind toes.
- Keep weight on midfoot to heel.
- Keep chest up and back flat.
- Keep hips low throughout movement.
Feel it?
Strengthening the groin.
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Hockey is one of Canada’s most popular sports to both watch and play. Not surprisingly, injuries are quite prevalent and often involve sprains and strains due to the powerful accelerations and decelerations of the skating stride. Adductor strains, more commonly known as groin injuries, can plague players leading to many lost games. Using NHL players, Tyler et al. (2001) determined that players with weaker adductor muscles were more likely to sustain a groin injury. More specifically, if a player’s adductor strength was less than 80% of his hip abductor strength, they are 17 times more likely to suffer a strain. They also determined that adductor flexibility was not a risk factor for a strain.
Building on these results, Tyler et al. (2002) developed a 6 week pre-season training program for the adductor muscle group that they demonstrated to lower the incidence of injury in those at risk. The program involved concentric, eccentric and sport-specific elements. Therefore, in order to avoid injury players may undertake a similar program if an imbalance exists.
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