Structuring practice to manage injury

[One Planer]

As per thread title, I could do with a little help.

I have an 'ongoing' injury to my left wrist. The injury itself is healed, however, over use causes me mild tendonitis. When this occurs, as it did last week, I can't even grip a club to practice putting so any form of play or practice goes right out of the window.

To this end, I want to restructure my practice to help minimise the over-use aspect and allow plenty of time for 'rest'.

My current play/practice involves:

Tuesday: Range - Small Bucket of balls - Short game <100 yards + Chipping (Followed by 15 minutes holing 3ft putts)

Thursday: Range - Small bucket of balls - Iron play >150 yards + Chipping (Followed by 15 minutes on mid distance putts)

Saturday: Play 18 Holes

Sunday: Play 9 holes + 1 hour on short game practice area.

(In the summer, Thursdays range session is replaced with 12 holes of twilight golf)

Of the above, I effectively have 3 days of 'rest'.

The above seems to suit me well and helps me to cover the aspects of my game I feel need to improve, unfortunatley it seems it 'may' be too much for my wrist.

Any hints or tips on re-structuring the above to help manage my over use issue would be gratefully received.

 

[AmandaJR]

Gareth - can you identify a particular area of the game which puts more strain on your wrist? Perhaps hitting down onto a hard range mat with your short irons? Or chipping practice with a set left wrist? Anything you can identify which makes it unhappy is at least a start point as to what area you may have to accept has less practice and is saved for the course?

 

[Robobum]

I'd avoid hitting balls on a range mat completely. If the range is your only option, I'd only hit woods off of the tee.

 

[One Planer]

Gareth - can you identify a particular area of the game which puts more strain on your wrist? Perhaps hitting down onto a hard range mat with your short irons? Or chipping practice with a set left wrist? Anything you can identify which makes it unhappy is at least a start point as to what area you may have to accept has less practice and is saved for the course?

Something I've already cinsidered Amanda.

Nothing spings to mind as regards standing out from the rest. As an exmple:

Last Tuesday I hit 25 balls at the range. Had very slight discomfort (Ache) after.

Last Thursday - Had a lesson, emptied a large bucket during, and just after, again mild discomfort after.

Did nothing Friday but had severe pain resulting in going back into a splint until Sunday when I had zero pain and full ROM.

When I got back off holiday (2 weeks ago) I spent the afternoon and early evening at the range. Hit a large bucket (100 balls) over the course of about 2 hours. Zero reaction from my injury.

IN additon, the range I use has True Strike gel mats (http://www.truestrike.com/) to minimise impacts.

I think it's general over use, hence my question

 

[CMAC]

Gareth, with all due respect only you can determine a schedule as only you have the pain

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Gareth, with all due respect only you can determine a schedule as only you have the pain

Maybe a bit of insight or past experience from someone might help him.

 

[guest100718]

Something I've already cinsidered Amanda.

Nothing spings to mind as regards standing out from the rest. As an exmple:

Last Tuesday I hit 25 balls at the range. Had very slight discomfort (Ache) after.

Last Thursday - Had a lesson, emptied a large bucket during, and just after, again mild discomfort after.

Did nothing Friday but had severe pain resulting in going back into a splint until Sunday when I had zero pain and full ROM.

When I got back off holiday (2 weeks ago) I spent the afternoon and early evening at the range. Hit a large bucket (100 balls) over the course of about 2 hours. Zero reaction from my injury.

IN additon, the range I use has True Strike gel mats (http://www.truestrike.com/) to minimise impacts.

I think it's general over use, hence my question

Which range is that? They have just fitted them at my local range and I don't like them, even though I suffer from tennis elbow quite often.

 

[john0]

Gareth I think your best off just admitting defeat and retiring from golf in favour of a more injury free hobby..............How much do you want for them T4 wedges?

 

[One Planer]

Which range is that? They have just fitted them at my local range and I don't like them, even though I suffer from tennis elbow quite often.

Stone Driving range in Staffordshire

http://www.stonedrivingrange.co.uk/

Gareth I think your best off just admitting defeat and retiring from golf in favour of a more injury free hobby..............How much do you want for them T4 wedges?

:rofl:

Funny you should mention about the wedges...........

 

[tsped83]

As per thread title, I could do with a little help.

I have an 'ongoing' injury to my left wrist. The injury itself is healed, however, over use causes me mild tendonitis. When this occurs, as it did last week, I can't even grip a club to practice putting so any form of play or practice goes right out of the window.

To this end, I want to restructure my practice to help minimise the over-use aspect and allow plenty of time for 'rest'.

My current play/practice involves:

Tuesday: Range - Small Bucket of balls - Short game <100 yards + Chipping (Followed by 15 minutes holing 3ft putts)

Thursday: Range - Small bucket of balls - Iron play >150 yards + Chipping (Followed by 15 minutes on mid distance putts)

Saturday: Play 18 Holes

Sunday: Play 9 holes + 1 hour on short game practice area.

(In the summer, Thursdays range session is replaced with 12 holes of twilight golf)

Of the above, I effectively have 3 days of 'rest'.

The above seems to suit me well and helps me to cover the aspects of my game I feel need to improve, unfortunatley it seems it 'may' be too much for my wrist.

Any hints or tips on re-structuring the above to help manage my over use issue would be gratefully received.

You're super organised/committed with this training regime Gareth, how do you find the time man?

I'm no expert on training/practicing, but my advice would be an ENTIRE week of rest, with no golf whatsoever. If you can't even grip a putter when it flares up, then common sense suggests taking some time away from it altogether. Give it a chance to get better. A week without practice won't suddenly plunge your game in to the depths of despair.

 

[One Planer]

You're super organised/committed with this training regime Gareth, how do you find the time man?

Finding the time is the easy part

I do the range work in my lunch hour from work. I/We normally tee off at the crack of dawn on weekends so I'm back home around Midday. If the wife is happy, I'm happy :thup:

I'm no expert on training/practicing, but my advice would be an ENTIRE week of rest, with no golf whatsoever. If you can't even grip a putter when it flares up, then common sense suggests taking some time away from it altogether. Give it a chance to get better. A week without practice won't suddenly plunge your game in to the depths of despair.

Tried it over the past year. I took nearly 3 months away from the game at the end of last year because of it. As I say, it only flares up when I take the proverbial and do too much on it, hence me looking at altering how often I practice.

 

[JustOne]

Blimey..... you sound uber disciplined

Rest, some rest and some more rest...... and some ice.

 

[woody69]

Personally, if it was me, I would be going to a decent physio to see what they suggest. The problem is, it might be bad news and he might suggest a complete break from golf for several weeks, or even months in order to fully heal, whilst undertaking some specific exercises to strengthen the problem area.

Without understanding the full extent of your injury it is difficult to judge, but I think you might want to think about taking a complete break from ALL golf and working on fixing the problem, rather than "managing" it to the point you can play just enough that it doesn't hurt. All that will happen (more than likely) is you will suffer severe issues later in life and perhaps be forced to give the game up anyway. I know it's a hard choice when all you want to do is play, but it might be the sensible one.

 

[Imurg]

If 27 holes, 2 small buckets and a bit putting in a week is causing this much grief then it seems to me there's more going on than meets the eye. If you took 3 months off and that didn't fix it then I think you need to get it looked at again and again until they find something.
At your age your body should be able to cope with your regime - lets face it you're not pounding 200 balls every night or similar..

 

[One Planer]

Personally, if it was me, I would be going to a decent physio to see what they suggest. The problem is, it might be bad news and he might suggest a complete break from golf for several weeks, or even months in order to fully heal, whilst undertaking some specific exercises to strengthen the problem area.

Without understanding the full extent of your injury it is difficult to judge, but I think you might want to think about taking a complete break from ALL golf and working on fixing the problem, rather than "managing" it to the point you can play just enough that it doesn't hurt. All that will happen (more than likely) is you will suffer severe issues later in life and perhaps be forced to give the game up anyway. I know it's a hard choice when all you want to do is play, but it might be the sensible one.

When I first got the injury. I was originally treated by my GP who originally diagnosed Ligament and nerve damage, then referred onto a specialist. Had an MRI and X-Ray, both of which revealed no serious injury.

In the end the specialist advised that, in the absence of anything untoward on the MRI, it was an over-use injury and/or tendonitis.

He had no issues with me continuing to play, so long as it was pain free. When I feel a twinge/pain. I stop and rest it up.

Back to the OP. This is why I'm after advice on re-structuring my current practice format to help minimise and prevent any over use.

 

[JustOne]

When I first got the injury. I was originally treated by my GP who originally diagnosed Ligament and nerve damage, then referred onto a specialist. Had an MRI and X-Ray, both of which revealed no serious injury.

In the end the specialist advised that, in the absence of anything untoward on the MRI, it was an over-use injury and/or tendonitis.

He had no issues with me continuing to play, so long as it was pain free. When I feel a twinge/pain. I stop and rest it up.

Back to the OP. This is why I'm after advice on re-structuring my current practice format to help minimise and prevent any over use.

I've had similar for nearly 4yrs now.... was told (eventually) that I had an inline split in a ligament and it wouldn't heal (I don't know how true that was as I felt I got fobbed off, but they did say I could go under the knife if I wanted to). They said that occasionally it would just get 'trapped' because it was split and as a result of being accidentally squashed it would flare up for a few days..... touch wood.... it's only happened once in the past 18 months.

 

[One Planer]

I've had similar for nearly 4yrs now.... was told (eventually) that I had an inline split in a ligament and it wouldn't heal (I don't know how true that was as I felt I got fobbed off, but they did say I could go under the knife if I wanted to). They said that occasionally it would just get 'trapped' because it was split and as a result of being accidentally squashed it would flare up for a few days..... touch wood.... it's only happened once in the past 18 months.

Sounds similar James.

When it des flare up, it's for, literally a day or 2. Generally, I'll take a week off hitting balls, as I am this time, then kick in again with no issues.

My routine, as Ian says, isn't that heavy in the number of balls hit, but I feel if I can manage what/how I practice a little better I can remove the flare ups all together.

 

[JustOne]

Yep 2-3 days.... and then I'm just really wary for a few more days... hard to commit to a shot when you're scared of the pain though.

Have you tried any wrist strengthening exercises? little wrist curls with a small barbell or those 'springs' that you squeeze? I heard if you strengthen your wrist it helps hold everything in place..... I don't know if that's a myth or not, and haven't tried it myself.

 

[CMAC]

Gareth, I used to have a ribcage issue that would literally have me crying out in pain on the throughswing, I persevered as I love the game and couldnt not play took a long time to heal.

people suggested how and when to play, when to rest blah blah blah, all well meaning but only you can decide how/when to play as its unique to you and your physiology.

 

[One Planer]

Yep 2-3 days.... and then I'm just really wary for a few more days... hard to commit to a shot when you're scared of the pain though.

Have you tried any wrist strengthening exercises? little wrist curls with a small barbell or those 'springs' that you squeeze? I heard if you strengthen your wrist it helps hold everything in place..... I don't know if that's a myth or not, and haven't tried it myself.

I'm going down the stress ball route James. I'll give it a nudge for a time, gradually building up the time and see how it goes.

Gareth, I used to have a ribcage issue that would literally have me crying out in pain on the throughswing, I persevered as I love the game and couldnt not play took a long time to heal.

people suggested how and when to play, when to rest blah blah blah, all well meaning but only you can decide how/when to play as its unique to you and your physiology.

Agree with that, and your previous comment Colin. Sound advice :thup: