The connection between your golf swing and your overall health

How many bad shots have you made throughout your years of playing golf? Don't you wish you could analyze each shot so that you could learn from it and improve upon it? I recently read a WSJ article that talked about what your golf swing says about your overall health. It was written by Tara Parker-Pope on Tuesday, May 29th. What I found most helpful about the article is that she outlined a way to use the golf swing to determine a golfer’s weaknesses. By using the swing to analyze imbalances, going one step further would be to correct these imbalances by implementing a certain type of exercise. As the golfer addresses these weaknesses, the swing should improve. Let’s look at the connections she made:

Short drives: If your drives aren’t going very far, it’s often a sign of a inflexibility of your lower body, particularly in your hips.

Accuracy: If the ball is consistently bending to the right or left, you may have postural imbalances in your upper body that prohibit sufficient rotation.

Inconsistent swing: If your swing is all over the place, it may be a sign that you lack strength in your core muscles which include abs, hips, buttocks and shoulder stabilizers.

Mind over matter: If your golf game falls apart after a bad shot, you may not be able to handle the stress of the game. There could be a deeper issue that is troubling you resulting in difficulty focusing.

The good news is, once you recognize the problem, you can start to address it and work towards improving your body, your mind and your game. Find yourself a trainer who can help to resolve these issues and you will be well on your way.

For more information on Pilates and Fitness, visit www.thecoreconnection.com

Pilates for Golf

I recently attended a Pilates for Golf Seminar at the Northeast Pilates Stott Certification center in Hamilton, MA and thought I'd share some of the info:

Reasons for Golfers to participate in Pilates:

The golf swing needs to initiate from the powerhouse, your core muscles. These muscles are deep and need to support the spine as we ask it to withstand an incredible amount of force generated by the golf swing. If the core is not strong enough, this could result in pain. In addition, a golfers swing without the strong support of the core musculature will be less effective resulting in shorter distances and less powerful driving of the ball. Pilates will improve your game!

Some background info....

Back Pain in Golf
• The most common complaint in all groups of golfers is lower back pain
• Most likely cased by the rotation of the lumbar spine at the top of the back swing, which is followed by a vigorous de-rotation of the spine through the downswing and hyperextension in the follow-through.
• Twisting/torquing of the spine is associated with the development of low back pain

Compressive forces generated by the golf swing
• Compressive forces serve to compress or squish the spinal structures.
• The golf swing subjects the lower back to loading patterns that are rapid, complex and intense.
• Comparatively speaking, the golf swing generates significantly more compressive force than sitting or standing.
o Standing/sitting good posture (100lb), bad posture (200lb
o The golf swing generates compression loads of more than 8 times the body weight. (1,339lb. – 1674lb)

Shearing Forces
• Shear forces are different than compressive forces. They occur in the horizontal plane and are generated by the attempted translation of a structure. The compressive and rotational forces generated during the golf swing together create significant shearing forces.
• Amateurs average a peak shear load of 125 lb while professionals peak at 73 lb. Amateurs generate up to 80% greater peak lateral bending and shear loads than professionals.
• The shear component of the golf swing places considerable pressure on the spinal joints and over time may cause stress-related bony injury of the lumbar spine.

Have I scared you? I did not intend to. I just want to help you improve your game and keep you out of pain so you can do what you love best. Pilates addresses these issues because we work from the inside out. We work the transversus abdominus, pelvic floor, internal and external obliques and those deep layer multifidi and paraspinals.

Stay tuned for pilates and golf information. 'Tis the Season!

For more information on Pilates and Fitness, visit www.thecoreconnection.com