It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

I came across this blog post that talks about common golfing injuries and ways to avoid them.

While the sentiment is nice, the 'shot' (message) has been sliced and is heading far from the green and into the rough!

Leading the list of golf injuries is golfer’s elbow. The best way to avoid golfer’s elbow is to strengthen the forearm muscles and slow the swing so that there will be less shock in the arm when the ball is hit.

This is such a common way of thinking when it comes to injuries: "If something hurts, it must be weak. So if it's weak, it needs strengthening". Right? Wrong!!

Golfers elbow (Medial Epicondylitis) , along with tennis elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis), carpal tunnel syndrome and a whole host of other symptoms isn't necessarily a sign of weakness...it's a sign of misalignment.

What's happening is that the shoulder on that same side is out of position (along with the rest of the body). As the shoulder position becomes compromised, it can no longer go through a full range-of-motion and function as it was designed to.

Your body knows that you have to keep moving and going about your day, no matter what, so it will call on other muscles and body parts to do the job that the strong and mighty shoulder should be doing.

And who's it gonna call? No, not Ghostbusters...your elbows and wrists are the ones that pay the price for a dysfunctional shoulder and take up the slack. Now, just as every muscle in your body (over 600) has a specific job and operates within a team, so too do your joints.

Your shoulders, in a functional position, are designed to rotate (as per its ball and socket function) and they're also designed to hinge forwards and backwards. But when their position becomes compromised and they get stuck in a forward hinged position (for example) they can't assist you properly in driving the ball down the fareway.

Instead, the elbows and wrists are called on to do a job they were never designed to do. The result? Well, we know that rubbing two sticks together creates enough friction to start a fire (in theory - I was never able to do it as a kid...but that's another story ;>) ). And it's the same for muscles and tendons that are inflamed from over work: eventually they rub, which causes friction, which causes the pain.

Now, you can strengthen your forearm muscles all day long and it will do nothing to address the underlying problem that caused the pain in the first place. Remember, pain is simply a message. It's telling you that something is wrong and that it needs you to do something about it. It isn't to be feared, it's to be understood.

Your body works as a unit. Misalignment in one part can and does affect the rest of it. Nothing happens in isolation.

If you're suffering with any elbow pain, do these exercises from The Egoscue Method and see what happens. They are designed to treat the cause of your pain, rather than the symptom...they will start the process of repositioning your shoulder and getting you more bilateral, which in plain English, means having the left and right side of your body functioning as it was designed to.

Let me know how you get on and if you have any questions.

Talk to you soon.

Matt

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