Lower Back Fixes

Part 5 of a 6-Part Series on Low Back Injuries
by David Ostrow, President of Body Balance for Performance

Golfers’ Low Back Pain - The Core Issue

Fixes and Prevention

By now I hope you are seeing a trend…that there are only a few problems responsible for most of the lower back injuries and swing faults golfers experience.  It is very simple.  Level the pelvis, free the hamstrings and hip rotation, improved stability in the hips, create a neutral spine and pelvis, and improve core strength.  Simple, right? Here is the process.

Level the pelvis. This is not so difficult to do. Get rid of unilateral lower cross syndrome. That is all there is to it.

How? Most uneven pelvises are the result of muscle imbalances in the region.  Hip flexors are tight and inhibit glutes.  Quadratus lumborum is tight.  Lower abdominals are weak or inhibited by the quadratus lumborum tightness. It’s all reflexes.  There are direct neurological connections among these groups. When one muscle becomes tight it sends a signal to the opposite to shut down.  This signal actually causes weakness in the antagonistic muscle.  A perfect example is iliacus (hip flexor) and glutes (hip extensor). They are reflex inhibitors of one another.  To fix the lower cross syndrome, you need only to restore balanced activity to BOTH muscles of the pair.  Leveling the pelvis requires nothing more than this:  lengthen the hip flexor and quadratus lumborum, facilitate and strengthen the glutes. Take advantage of these reflexes to correct the problem. Restoring normal biomechanical forces on the pelvic bones will relieve the torsion. If done correctly, this process will take no more than a week or two.

Free the hips by improving flexibility in the hip external rotators and by improving muscle activity in the hip internal rotators. This can be accomplished in several weeks to two months ,depending on how tight the hips are. How? Releasing, Stretching, strengthening, facilitating, balancing muscle tensions, then on to functional training. These exercises can help:

Create a neutral spine by balancing the tensions between the abdominals and the lower back, and between the hip flexors and extensors on both sides of the body. Most of us have a bilateral forward tilt of the pelvis. Stretch both hip flexors.  Stretch the lower back.  Strengthen the glutes and abs. Do this lying down, sitting up, standing, and then do this in golf posture. That is all there is to it.  These exercises might help:

Do these fixes all seem similar?  They should, because they are. The challenge for most of you is knowing what side to apply the fixes to and in what sequence. That is where a Body Balance for Performance team can help.  We are able to help you understand and fix this. [Fix what???] Frankly, any golf fitness professional who understands the biomechanics, neurology, anatomy, and the golf swing could easily help you get rid of back pain, and play the best golf of your life.

Try the exercises noted above to see what happens.  Bottom line is that if you do not improve in a week to ten days doing these on your own, you probably will need help from a golf fitness professional with the knowledge of the areas noted in the previous paragraph.  If you want to have us look at this email us pictures of you:  back view in standing, toe touch with the legs together and straight, and sitting with your right ankle on the left knee, and then the left ankle on the right knee. Once we see these we might be able to guide you to a solution.

if you have any questions, please feel free to email them to me at dostrow@fitgolf.com.

Here’s to your healthy back and good golf.

Dave

David Ostrow is the President and CEO of Body Balance for Performance, Inc. He has been a physical therapist for 22 years. David is considered by many golf industry professionals to be an expert in golf fitness. David has spent his career developing a well defined, effective approach for restoring the human body to full function. His eclectic approach to the body comes from his diverse training with many of the leaders in physical therapy education including Rocabado, Maitland and Callaway.

David has taken what he learned from the masters and created a complete clinical system, integrating it into Body Balance for Performance.  Check out his Golf Fitness Training Programs

Comments

[Libby]

I know my brother had some problems with his back due to the way he used his mouse at work. It really impacted his game. He tried yoga which helped a little but it finally took a physical therapist and specific back exercises and stretches to help. He struggled with it for years.

[christy]

i had some lower back problems earlier in the year and my doctor gave me a very similar list of exercises to try out and the sharp pain i was experiencing was gone within a week. great tips.