Golf-related lower back injuries: an epidemiological survey

Abstract

Objective: This study describes the playing characteristics of golfers who had an injury to their lower back in the course of play or practice in the previous year (12 months). Methods: A retrospective survey was mailed to members of randomly selected golf clubs across Australia. Statistical methods used included 2-sample t test to compare means of 2 independent populations and the v 2 test to examine the association between categorical variables/factors in the study. Results: Of 1634 Australian amateur golfers surveyed, 17.6% of golfers sustained at least 1 injury in the previous year. The lower back accounted for 25% of all golf-related injuries in the previous year, making the lower back the most common site of injury. The golfer with a golfrelated lower back injury was likely to have a previous history of lower back injury, while the injury had a progressive onset compared with an acute single onset. The follow-through phase of the golf swing was reported to be associated with the greatest likelihood of injury compared with other phases of the swing. Most of the injured golfers received treatment of their injury with a general practitioner (69%), a physiotherapist (49%), or a chiropractor (40%). Conclusion: Practitioners treating golfers with a history of lower back injury should evaluate the golf swing follow-through to identify potential causes of aggravation to the lower back. Targeted measures such as spinal manipulative therapy, soft tissue and back exercise, and conditioning programs to assist the strength and mobility of the golfer could then be implemented.

Current golf performance literature and application to training

“…22,26,47,48 This should not be too surprising given the magnitude of stress encountered during the full golf-swing. Studies show that compressive forces reach 6-8 times body mass during the full swing, and that these forces peak close to impact.…”

Recurrence quantification analysis and support vector machines for golf handicap and low back pain EMG classification

“…As for Hc, the FT phase revealed no power to discriminate the two classes (LBM and NLBP), for any muscle, despite the fact that more swing-related injuries were reported (McHardy et al, 2007). Discrimination strategies in neuromuscular coordination were more prevalent during the BS.…”

“…LBP has been implicated as the major complaint of golfers as well as the body region associated with a larger incidence of injuries (Cabri et al, 2009;Lindsay et al, 2002;McHardy et al, 2007). This led to a growing interest in quantifying the factors that can be influenced by LBP (Gluck et al, 2008;Vad, 2004), as the e.g.…”

Golf-related Spine and Lower Extremity Injury

“…Lower back has been reported as being the most common site of injury in a golfer, accounting for 23% to 35% of all injuries 1,7,[11][12][13] . The forces that occur as a result of the mechanics of the golf swing may be categorized as downward compression, side to side bending, sliding from back to front shearing 1) .…”