Who’s ready for golf? You prepare by cleaning your golf shoes, wiping down your clubs, and restocking your bag with a fresh supply of balls. You’ve booked your tee times and made bets with a few pals on season stats.
But is your body ready to golf? Preparing your back, knees, and arms for handling your power swing, is essential if you hope to play golf for many years to come.
Over 80% of professional golfers and 60% amateur golfers sustain an injury at one point in their career (bruised egos aside). These injuries caused recreational players to be out of commission for an average of 5 weeks. Especially in New England, that is a large portion of the summer.
Luckily for you, there are a few things you can do to help prepare your body for golf, lower your risk for injury, and enjoy as much time as possible on the course.
- Warm up and stretch. Arrive early, and take a lap or two around the parking lot or neighborhood. Add in a few minutes of swinging and circling your arms, and then stretch. Make sure you stretch your back, neck, shoulders, and hamstrings. Hold each stretch gently for a count of 10-15 seconds. Not only will limbering up lower your risk for game time injury, but it may give you an edge over your buddies
- In golf core strength is key. Exercises that involve balance or stability are great for preparing your body. One great exercise is planks. Planks work the stomach, oblique, and back muscles of your core, planks also strengthen your glutes, quads and shoulders. Aim for sessions of 30-second planks 3 times a week to start, and then build your time to holding each plank for a minute or more.
- Make a Massage appointment. Getting regular massages can increase the range of motion and improve the flexibility of your muscles. Massage also promotes healthy circulation, which can improve the fluidity of your muscles. Studies have found that of golfers who sustained an injury while golfing, over a third reported a hurt lower back, and another third reported a hurt elbow. And, if you’ve had a previous injury, Massage is especially important to get any residual knots and kinks worked out. Making sure your back and joints are in their best possible form before you hit the greens will lower your chances for injury and reward you with a better score.
- Body and Soul Massage in Salem, Ma offers Sports Massage therapy for athletes of all kinds. Call or email us for to find out how Massage can help your “game” today! 978-825-0040. Info@bodysoulsalem.com