Golf Injuries (2)

The golf swing is unnatural in that it exacerbates your entire back:

Your spine is unnaturally tilted at address.

You initiate an unnatural compression force in your downswing.

You exert an unnatural rotation force on the axis of your spine as you coil and uncoil your shoulders during the backswing and downswing.

You unnaturally bend your side at the impact and follow-through, creating compression in the lumbar area of your spine.

Pain radiating down through the leg and hip is often due to a back problem, not a hip problem. Pain radiating in the area where the disks connect (facet joints) is often localized, and sporadic (coming and going).

Fortunately, many golf injuries related to the back are both preventable and treatable.

Fortunately, many golf injuries related to the back are both preventable and treatable.

Strengthening your abdominal and midsection for protection against golf injuries in the back

Weak abdominal muscles lead to weak posture at address, which causes poor body alignment, creating more strain on your lower back.

Strong abdominal muscles balance lumbar muscles of the back for better posture.

Regular stretching exercises for back protection against golf injuries in the back

Regular stretching exercises for the back, abdomen, and sides protect your back from golf injuries, and therefore should be done on a regular basis, regardless of how often your play the game.

Tip: Do your back stretches in the shower to benefit from the pulsating hot water.

Where and when you stretch is not as important as consistency on a daily basis. Stretch your back for golfing success.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Golf Injuries (1)

Golf is not a contact sport, like basketball or football. Nevertheless, golf injuries are common, especially among the elderly. You do not want to be slave to your injuries, which can be debilitating or may even become chronic, forcing you to give up the sport totally.

Knowing how to recognize these injuries is the first step to prevention, which is far better than rehabilitation. If you have injuries, you need to take precautionary steps to correct the problem in order to prevent these golf injuries from happening. Be knowledgeable in their prevention.

Research in golf injuries has indicated that 80 percent of lower back problems are due to poor alignment of the spine and pelvic girdle, as well as the repeated strain exerted by the golf swing on different parts of your back.

Poor alignment is caused by:

 

body inflexibility

weak muscles

poor postural habits.

Strains and pressures are constantly exerted by the golf swing on different parts of the back, including the vertebrae, disks (cushioning plates of cartilage between vertebrae), the facet joints (joints connecting the vertebrae), the ligaments of the facet joints, and the muscles surrounding the spine.

As a result of these consistent strains and pressures on different parts of the back, often aggravated by poor alignment, your back and spine may snap, leading to debilitating golf injuries, or the more common problems of muscle strains, herniated disks, and inflamed joints and ligaments.

The bottom line: make sure you have a healthy posture while standing, sitting, sleeping even when you are not playing golf. If you are a senior, pay special attention to your forward head posture.

More next time . . .

Stephen Lau

How to Improve Your Putting

Putting is the end game of golf, often called “a game within a game.”

If you master putting, you master the game of golf. However, putting is extremely difficult to master, although in putting, a golfer uses only the shortest backswing and downswing in golf.

To improve putting, you need to get the right putter. Putting is an art, and as such, it requires a proper tool to express that form of art. The putter is quite different from other golf clubs: it comes in many different designs. Generally, putters are the shortest of all golf clubs, and they are designed to roll the golf ball when it is on the green. The most significant difference between the putter and the rest of the golf clubs is the grip: it is flat on the top of the shaft to allow you to place your hands comfortably on the grip without exerting too much pressure on the equipment. To improve putting, select the right putter–one that you are most comfortable with the grip.

Another way to improve putting is to know what method to use when you putt. Lack of practice often leads to lack of confidence and nervousness, resulting in hitting off-line putts that either fall short of or finish past the hole. To illustrate, in a long putt (50 feet or so), try to lag the ball up close to the hole (i.e. try to aim for 2 putts).

During putting, do the following:

1.    Set up slightly closed by placing your right foot back slightly from the target line than your left foot

2.    Position your golf ball opposite your left heel.

3.    Grip your putter naturally with your right hand.

4.    Swing your putter with more strength than usual, but slightly inside the target line. Remember to rotate your shoulders in a counterclockwise direction in order to make you square your putter face up at impact and swing it back to the inside after you have struck the ball.

If you are a beginner, go to The Golf Beginner Guide to get more information on improving putting.

The Putting Secrets Revealed shows you the secrets of putting for golf success.

Stephen Lau

Copyright © by Stephen Lau 

Another FREE Book to Help Your Vision for Better Golfing

EYE EXERCISES FOR BETTER VISION

By Stephen Lau

This is a book on using eye exercises to overcome bad vision habits that lead to poor vision. The author explains that the eye is an organ of the body, which is controlled by the mind, vision health is holistic health of the body and the mind. 

Good vision is determined by the flexibility of eye muscles. If you exercise your body, there is no rhyme or reason why you should not exercise your eyes for better vision.

The author himself has poor vision due to his myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune disease affecting his eye muscles. He is sharing his own experience to use eye exercises for better vision.

Get this book for FREE. Click here to go to the page for your FREE download.

Stephen Lau

FREE Weight Loss Book to Play Better Golf!

Download this book ABSOLUTELY FREE to lose a few extra pounds to play better golf!

All-Round Weight Loss

by Stephen Lau

Everybody wants to lose some weight; some even want to lose a lot more. But almost everybody gains back all the pounds that have been lost, and then some.

Why is that? Because weight loss is not just about eating less—after all, everybody wants to eat more, not less. Weight loss is about everything, just as Oprah Winfrey once said: “My greatest failure was in believing that the weight issue was just about weight.” Oprah was right. Weight loss is all-round; that is, it involves the body, the mind, and the spirit. To illustrate, weight loss is also about the thinking mind; it is the thoughts that make you fat, more than anything else. According to Esther and Jerry Hicks' bestseller "Money and the Law of Attraction," people not only want the food but also believe that the food will make them fat, and thus have created that which they do not want; unfortunately, their thoughts attract what they do not want, so their bodies respond to the thinking mind, and gain instead of losing weight.

Therefore, going on a fad diet, abstaining from certain types of food, reducing calorie consumption-all these only contribute to the weight-loss hype that sustains the billion-dollar weight-loss industry. The consumers forever lose in the battle of the bulge.

ALL-ROUND WEIGHT LOSS is holistic weight management in that it covers every aspect of weight loss, beginning with the mind, the body, and then the spirit, to make weight loss natural and permanent. Only holistic weight management guarantees lasting weight loss. Do not waste money on diets, and weight-loss products and programs that do not work. Follow the author's simple but comprehensive holistic approach to wellness and weight management. Remember, if you are healthy in body, mind, and soul, you will not have any weight problem.

Click here to go to the page to get your book ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Stephen Lau