Golf is a sport of repetition. The same movement pattern, driven by the same muscle chains, delivered hundreds of times per week in practice and across decades of play. This places highly specific and cumulative demands on particular structures, and produces a characteristic set of injuries that any practitioner working with golfers needs to understand in detail.
At Hever Health, based at Hever Castle Golf Club, we work with golfers from club members managing their first lower back problem to experienced players seeking to maintain performance and longevity in the sport.
The Physical Demands of Golf
The golf swing requires explosive rotational power generated through the hips and thoracic spine, transferred efficiently through the core and into the arms and club. It demands a significant range of thoracic rotation, adequate hip mobility, appropriate shoulder stability and a lumbar spine capable of tolerating the compressive and rotational forces produced at impact.
When any part of this chain is restricted or dysfunctional, the body finds a way to generate the required movement elsewhere. The lumbar spine takes on rotation that should have come from the thorax. The shoulder takes on load that should have been shared more efficiently. The wrist compensates for inadequate forearm rotation. These compensations are where golf injuries originate.
The Most Common Golf Injuries
Lower back pain is the most prevalent complaint among golfers at every level. It is almost always related to a combination of inadequate thoracic rotation, hip restriction and compensatory lumbar loading during the swing. Treating the back alone rarely resolves it.
Golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylalgia) affects the tendons on the inside of the elbow, loaded by the grip and the impact forces transmitted through the hands.
Rotator cuff problems develop in the lead shoulder, particularly in players with restricted thoracic rotation and limited shoulder mobility.
Hip pain is increasingly recognised as a source of both local symptoms and swing dysfunction. Restricted hip internal rotation in particular forces accommodation elsewhere in the chain.
Wrist injuries are common at all ability levels and often related to impact mechanics and grip.
How Sports Therapy and Osteopathy Address Golf Injuries
Assessment at Hever Health looks at the whole kinetic chain, not just the site of pain. Connor Reid evaluates where the restriction is, how it is affecting swing mechanics, and what the functional movement capacity is across the relevant joints.
Treatment addresses the injury, restores the mobility restrictions that contributed to it, and where appropriate provides guidance on swing modifications that reduce load while the tissue recovers. Where structural factors require osteopathic input, Paul Moody and Connor work within the same clinical environment at Hever Health, allowing a co-ordinated approach.
For golfers at Hever Castle Golf Club experiencing pain or restriction, or for those who want a proactive assessment of their physical capacity before problems develop, book an appointment with Connor.