Osteopathy for a Lower Handicap: Why It Helps Golfers Improve
If you play golf, you’re no doubt happy about the warmer weather. However, that need for accuracy and having power in your swing always seem to fall flat, don’t they?
The movement pattern that you need to engage for the perfect golf swing is incredibly complex. This requires coordination of all the muscles and joints in your body. Along with that, you need balance and to time everything just right. Whatever tiny movements you make are only amplified by the length of your club, creating huge changes in trajectory.
Since all movements you make require an intuitive response, it’s only natural for your body to choose the path of least resistance. With golf, the goal is to address the ball neutrally, but problems arise if something impedes your motion in the backswing or downswing.
No, it’s not simply a need of more practice. You need osteopathy to help improve your game.
How Can Osteopathy Help You Become a Better Golfer?
With the help of an osteopath, they will look at your whole body in accordance with what it takes to make a golf swing. In doing so, they can identify what restrictions in movements are holding you back.
For the neck and cervical spine, your eye contact on the ball means you need to keep stable mechanical movement in this area. Meanwhile the mid-back or thoracic spine area needs to be open and flexible, particularly for rotation, to see an improvement in your swing and posture.
As for the lumbar or lower back, this area aids in the power and speed of your swing. If there is rigidity here among your muscles and ligaments, this would be an area to treat and restore optimal rotation without all that strain.
Your knees are also forced to absorb all that torque from the rotation of your body and the power you throw into your swing. An osteopath can help you decompress the knees and any tightness in your quads and hamstrings. This will also free up movement in your lumbar spine.
In golfers, the rotator cuff is heavily taxed during the backswing. Compression extension is quite common, which can limit the speed of your swings. In the arms, golfers can also suffer from tennis elbow. Having an osteopath help treat the injury and teach you techniques to prevent it from recurring can be instrumental in allowing you to roam the greens freely.
Osteopathy engages an array of techniques that mobilize your joints. These techniques also decrease tension in muscles and ligaments. Even if you have been injured while golfing, osteopathy is an excellent way to speed up your recovery and prevent further issues.
But if you worry about spending too much time in waiting rooms rather than on the golf course, just call In Your Home Therapy. Our licensed osteopaths come to you and your convenience to help maximize your golf game!
