How good is golf for injuries....

[Tashyboy]

Reading the blog about how good is golf for walking, personally I think it is good and helps keep you fit.
But, last couple of weeks two PP have had to give it a miss due to bad backs. Me ave had bad backs, left shoulder, aching knees, ankle surgery coz I kept wapping over on the course. Right elbow strain.
So how good is golf for injuries......

 

[duncan mackie]

Reading the blog about how good is golf for walking, personally I think it is good and helps keep you fit.
But, last couple of weeks two PP have had to give it a miss due to bad backs. Me ave had bad backs, left shoulder, aching knees, ankle surgery coz I kept wapping over on the course. Right elbow strain.
So how good is golf for injuries......

Terrible. It's an entirely one sided activity that shouldn't be undertaken when rebuilding weakness.

However, as part of a general mobility regime it's got some plus points but care is needed.

You get fit for golf, not through golf.

 

[delc]

I have had tennis elbow in both elbows, golfer's elbow in one, a sprained wrist, a sprained ankle, a few torn ligaments and a back back at various times in my life through playing golf, so I suspect it's not that good for avoiding injuries!

 

[Matty6]

Prior to starting to play golf I suffered with sciatica for nearly 7 years. Two bulging discs were pinching the nerve. I had learned to live with the pain but I could still go about my day to day life. I was on the waiting list for an operation to have the discs trimmed. Just over a year ago I started playing golf and it has done wonders for my back. I still have some very low level pain, but I no longer have to walk with a limp! The only reason I hadn't taken up golf sooner was because of my back problems. Then one day I thought I would go to the range to see if I could swing a club without inflaming my back. At first it didn't help my back but it certainly didn't make things worse.

Over the years I have tried various exercises and physio to help alleviate the pain but nothing has worked as well as playing golf. Although playing golf has helped me, it certainly wouldn't be the fix for all back problems. But for my particular issue, it has definitely helped.

 

[patricks148]

almost as many injuries as when i played Cricket, but less than when i cycled.

Ripped rib Muscle
Torn Shoulder
hip Injury
sprained ankle
bad back/ neck
and now starting to get Tennis Elbow

so it s pretty good for getting injury's

 

[Dasit]

Would say it depends on your swing

High impact thrashers look like they could put there back out at any given moment

 

[User62651]

Bad sport for injuries -

Back - prolapsed disc and frequent twinges over the years, ongoing.
Shoulders - rotator cuff issues leading to frozen shoulder and operations, no golf in 4.5 yrs and counting.
Trigger finger x 3
Wrist - strained
Elbow - golf elbow a few times
Hips - tweaky on outward rotation but not sure if golf can be blamed, maybe just getting older.
Golfers arse - lets not go there!

Terrible anatomical sport but arguably worth the hours of suffering and treatment for an occasional pured 7 iron to 2 feet!

 

[delc]

Medical opinion seems to be a bit mixed about the benefits and downsides of playing golf on your back. My former Doctor (now retired) hated me playing golf and was always warning about potential injuries to my back. My new Doctor (a non golfer btw) thinks that golf is wonderful for keeping your spine exercised and flexible. Who is right?

 

[User62651]

Medical opinion seems to be a bit mixed about the benefits and downsides of playing golf on your back. My former Doctor (now retired) hated me playing golf and was always warning about potential injuries to my back. My new Doctor (a non golfer btw) thinks that golf is wonderful for keeping your spine exercised and flexible. Who is right?

The former I reckon, better ways of exercising and keeping a flexible healthy spine like yoga than the kind of twisting but with loading and impacts that golf does to it.

 

[Hobbit]

Bad sport for injuries -

Back - prolapsed disc and frequent twinges over the years, ongoing.
Shoulders - rotator cuff issues leading to frozen shoulder and operations, no golf in 4.5 yrs and counting.
Trigger finger x 3
Wrist - strained
Elbow - golf elbow a few times
Hips - tweaky on outward rotation but not sure if golf can be blamed, maybe just getting older.
Golfers arse - lets not go there!

Terrible anatomical sport but arguably worth the hours of suffering and treatment for an occasional pured 7 iron to 2 feet!

Change the wrist sprain to dislocated, and that's pretty much me. To be honest, most of my issues come from a serious RTA = car 'v' pedestrian. Car won, unsurprisingly. That's left lots of flexibility problems and weaknesses.

Saw a sport physio about 5 years back. He said give it up, or risk serious mobility issues later.

 

[User62651]

Change the wrist sprain to dislocated, and that's pretty much me. To be honest, most of my issues come from a serious RTA = car 'v' pedestrian. Car won, unsurprisingly. That's left lots of flexibility problems and weaknesses.

Saw a sport physio about 5 years back. He said give it up, or risk serious mobility issues later.

I take it you've stopped completely then voluntarily or been forced to give up like me then? When was the last round you played? - not sure which was my last, was either Haddington or Brunstfield Links spring or summer 2012. Didn't realise at the time either, was in denial I think.

 

[Sats]

All the more reason to keep healthy and fit if you ask me. Injuries can sometimes happen despite our best efforts to prevent them.

 

[Foxholer]

Medical opinion seems to be a bit mixed about the benefits and downsides of playing golf on your back. My former Doctor (now retired) hated me playing golf and was always warning about potential injuries to my back. My new Doctor (a non golfer btw) thinks that golf is wonderful for keeping your spine exercised and flexible. Who is right?

Both!

Huge potential for injuries, but also likely to be rather good for keeping the spine exercised!

I've only had 1 serious injury related to golf - a broken ankle suffered by slipping into a heather lined bunker with a set of clubs on my back! The 500yd walk to/up the next hole probably didn't help! Pushing a trolley is better than pulling (another one-sided activity). Even my dodgy (hockey caused) gets some effective exercise - as does my lower spine, where there is all sorts of strange things going on! Walking with a manageable load is very healthy!

Mind you, I'll be carrying on Wednesday, so might feel decidedly different!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Played for 58 years and never had a golf injury.
Mind you I did have a very good smooth swing.

 

[Hobbit]

I take it you've stopped completely then voluntarily or been forced to give up like me then? When was the last round you played? - not sure which was my last, was either Haddington or Brunstfield Links spring or summer 2012. Didn't realise at the time either, was in denial I think.

Still playing, but its an ugly, painful swing. Thank god for a decent short game, especially putting. Usually spend the afternoon, the night and following day full of painkillers and suffering. When I don't play for a few weeks I don't miss it. I guess I play partly out of habit and partly to annoy the hell out of some really good guys on here.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Only ever had the one injury when I slipped playing out of the clag and caught my man-veg on the end of the club. Pride was the big loser in that incident with no long term damage

I've got a few issues with joints/back/spine etc. but they are alleviated significantly with frequent golf - inactivity is the worst thing for me. The golf saves on taking so many drugs and in theory helps my game as well...

 

[Alex1975]

If running back to the tee box to collect a head cover is a golf injury, then terrible. Ended up with a torn hamstring that I have been fighting for 6 years. Just had 3 months rehab... Its getting there...

 

[Ross61]

I'm like matty6. I had lower back problems for years and I had given up golf in the mid 90's because oft it. For the 15 since giving up golf my back would still hurt all day until I finally I got sciatica and was off work for for 2 months, the first 5 weeks of it I could only lay on my back. Not able to sit at all. A year after recovering from the sciatica I tried to play golf again to keep fit, unfortunately my back took a hit. I went for a lesson with a pro and he straightened my swing out as I was slashing about and my back was twisting in all the wrong ways. 3 years later my back is better thana it has been for 30 years.
The only injuries I've had from restarting golf is finger problems. I've gone from interlocking to overlay to baseball style grip to cure it. Also I got larger grips and now my fingers no longer hurt after playing golf.

 

[Maninblack4612]

I've played for 60 years & never had a golfing injury. I've had a number of neck & knee problems over the years but can only remember one occasion when it stopped me playing. I now have arthritis in my knee, fingers, thumbs & probably back but it never seems to bother me much on the course. Mind you, it severely restricts my ability to work in the garden - well, that's what I tell the wife.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Seems like GM think golf is good for exercise after all http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/golf-best-form-exercise-118381