I have had two requests already this morning for warm up and cool down stretches for golfers. A good video sess on warm up and cool down stretches for golfers sounds like a good way to conquer my writers block. By the end of these videos, you will clearly see why being a chiropractor was my calling and not an actress or hairstylist. In fact, after the freeze frame in the first one with the constipated face, it will also be clear I don’t know how to edit videos at all. That’s ok. In the name of all of you feeling good, I will sacrifice my dignity once again!!
It isn’t hard to understand why 80% of golfers have back pain, especially this time of year. When you add up the swings you take during your round including your shots and all of your practice swings, it ends of being a lot of one directional repetition. The golfers that I see tend to be really limber in one direction and very stiff in the other. There are a few simple steps you can take to minimizing your chances of injury with warm up and cool down stretches for golfers. This will help you feel good while doing the sport you love.
Tip 1-Warm your body up BEFORE you golf. This does NOT mean stretch. A lot of us rush to the course after work, hop out of our car hoping not to be late and run up to the first tee to take our swings.
Next time you golf, try this. Start with spinal twists-spread your feet shoulder with apart, interlace your fingers, point your hips forward and rotate your shoulders INDEPENDENTLY of your hips. This will help loosen up your spine.
Second–Try some walking lunges. This will help loosen up your hips and start firing your muscles.
Third- Activate your hip flexors with some high knee marches.
Lastly, try some standing crunches to activate your abs. While your standing, grip your finger tips LOOSELY behind your head. Crunch your opposite elbow to your opposite hip. Do about 15 of these on each side. ( Sorry, my expert videographer Sue went into a massage before I could make this video. You can figure out how to do standing crunches though. If not standing, lie on your back. Now you are ready to golf!
Tip 2-While you are out on the course, take a practice swing in the opposite direction before each hole. This will counter the effects of always swinging the same way. More and more we are seeing the pros on the tour do this. It will help keep you limber in BOTH directions.
Tip 3-Stretch yourself out after you golf before your body has a chance to cool down. Try a gentle forward fold while dropping your head down to stretch your back and hamstrings.
Make sure you stretch your hip flexors out doing a lunge as well and holding it. (Also no camera woman for this one, sorry!)
Any spinal rotation stretch you can do would help too.
(I was pretty much sick of taking these pics of myself by this point…couldn’t help it.)
Most people don’t hold their stretches long enough. Stay in your stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds. Also, keep in mind, the first point of injury is wrestling the golf bag out of the trunk.
If you have any questions on how to customize a stretching plan for yourself and your sport, call me. I’m happy to help!
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