Golf and Low Back Pain in San Francisco

One of the biggest complaints our San Francisco chiropractors get with our golfers is about chronic, recurrent back pain. Put more simply back pain that keeps coming back when they play golf. In the TPI system we talk a lot about the swing characteristic of a “reverse spine angle” which occurs when the player has too much backwards bend in the upper body and/or an upper body that bends towards the target during the backswing. This backswing position limits range of motion and inhibits (turns off) the core musculature that steals away performance in terms of power but also puts additional stress on the lower back and is a leading cause of back pain among golfers.

The reverse spine angle characteristic is found in 38.5% of players so don’t be too sure that you may not be suffering from it. You might have an issue with reverse spine angle if you also notice that your setup posture is in the S-Curve category (read our article about this here), if you have a hip that hikes up at address, if you struggle with forearm rotation through your swing or if you tend to try excessively hard to keep your head still throughout your swing.

So if you’re struggling with low back pain when or after you play a round come by for a TPI screening where we will focus on the individual areas of weakness in your system that will get you back on top of your next tourney.