How Do You Treat Your Aches and Pains?

[lastings]

14 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Maybe find a place that sells a generic equivalent. It's just ibuprofen, and no longer patent protected. 

The candy coating is worth the price.  😉

[edomingox]

I don't bother stretching.  My research on stretching seems to confirm that it doesn't help.  The act of stretching can cause tears in the muscle.  That's pretty much the same as working out, which is why you don't stretch after working out.  You'll just further damage the muscles.  Instead of stretching, I just warm up the muscles with small movement, then I increase the range of motion gradually. 

If you need flexibility, you need to stretch to the point you feel the pain, then that pain is the signal your brain gives you that says you need to stop, but you may realize that you can actually go further (but it just hurts more).  So to increase flexibility, you stretch to that painful feeling, then you flex that muscle.  After a good few seconds of flexing, you relax then stretch again and you'll see you can go further than before.  It's a common practice that coaches use for their students.  But again, I don't really stretch for golf because I'm only rotating my back about 90 degrees and I don't want to go much further than that or I'll be over-swinging.  Just getting the muscles moving enough to be pumped up is good enough.

As far as treating the aches and pains, I drink plenty of protein shakes.  I mostly get soreness in the legs.  Sometimes a little in the back.  But that's from using those muscles so much as if I had a good workout in the gym.

As an example, I walked a course that was not meant for walking.  Then I had a tournament the following day.  When I was done, I was so sore.  I drank 2-3 protein shakes a day for the next 3 days.  The soreness went away pretty quickly. 

[edomingox]

I thought I would add this about "stretching" 

Quite a Stretch: Stretching Hype Debunked

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Stretching science shows that it doesn't do most of what people hope it does. Detailed article.

 

[gbogey]

2 hours ago, edomingox said:

I don't bother stretching.  My research on stretching seems to confirm that it doesn't help.  The act of stretching can cause tears in the muscle.  That's pretty much the same as working out, which is why you don't stretch after working out.  You'll just further damage the muscles.  Instead of stretching, I just warm up the muscles with small movement, then I increase the range of motion gradually. 

If you need flexibility, you need to stretch to the point you feel the pain, then that pain is the signal your brain gives you that says you need to stop, but you may realize that you can actually go further (but it just hurts more).  So to increase flexibility, you stretch to that painful feeling, then you flex that muscle.  After a good few seconds of flexing, you relax then stretch again and you'll see you can go further than before.  It's a common practice that coaches use for their students.  But again, I don't really stretch for golf because I'm only rotating my back about 90 degrees and I don't want to go much further than that or I'll be over-swinging.  Just getting the muscles moving enough to be pumped up is good enough.

As far as treating the aches and pains, I drink plenty of protein shakes.  I mostly get soreness in the legs.  Sometimes a little in the back.  But that's from using those muscles so much as if I had a good workout in the gym.

As an example, I walked a course that was not meant for walking.  Then I had a tournament the following day.  When I was done, I was so sore.  I drank 2-3 protein shakes a day for the next 3 days.  The soreness went away pretty quickly. 

I'm going to guess from a few of your statements that you are 25-30 years younger than me.  25-30 years ago I had many of the same opinions, but I feel pretty confident that at my age stretching is providing me more flexibility and making me less prone to injury.  Whether I ache more or less after a round of golf is more debatable.

[Double Mocha Man]

Yep, I never stretched... walked up to the first tee or the range and whacked the driver.  Then one day about 5 years ago I strained something on the range doing that and didn't swing a club again for almost 2 months.  Now I always do about two minutes of very focused stretches and am fine.

3 knee bends

3 bending forward and backwards, arms between legs and then overhead and back

3 side stretches with arms, both ways

3 flat shoulder turns, both ways

3 mimicked swings, with a big follow through

(Then I can go after my drive with no fear)

[hoselpalooza]

2 hours ago, gbogey said:

I'm going to guess from a few of your statements that you are 25-30 years younger than me.  25-30 years ago I had many of the same opinions, but I feel pretty confident that at my age stretching is providing me more flexibility and making me less prone to injury.  Whether I ache more or less after a round of golf is more debatable.

i think the issue is static vs dynamic stretching prior to activity. according to healthcare professionals i've talked with as well as independent research, static stretching -- especially cold static stretching -- can actually cause injury. dynamic stretches and exercises, on the other hand, are supposed to have the opposite effect by "activating" certain body parts so they are ready for activity. 

[Alx]

On 6/6/2019 at 11:39 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

Yep, I never stretched... walked up to the first tee or the range and whacked the driver.  Then one day about 5 years ago I strained something on the range doing that and didn't swing a club again for almost 2 months.  Now I always do about two minutes of very focused stretches and am fine.

3 knee bends

3 bending forward and backwards, arms between legs and then overhead and back

3 side stretches with arms, both ways

3 flat shoulder turns, both ways

3 mimicked swings, with a big follow through

(Then I can go after my drive with no fear)

This sounds more like just a warm up rather than what I would describe as stretching.

I dont doubt it working. In fact it sounds pretty good although a bit minimalistic .

 

[Double Mocha Man]

20 minutes ago, Alx said:

This sounds more like just a warm up rather than what I would describe as stretching.

I dont doubt it working. In fact it sounds pretty good although a bit minimalistic .

 

True. I am a minimalist. Any more and I just wouldn't do the stretches. And they have worked every time.

[edomingox]

On 6/6/2019 at 3:56 PM, gbogey said:

I'm going to guess from a few of your statements that you are 25-30 years younger than me.  25-30 years ago I had many of the same opinions, but I feel pretty confident that at my age stretching is providing me more flexibility and making me less prone to injury.  Whether I ache more or less after a round of golf is more debatable.

I'm 46.  In all my life of active sports, I have stretched before and have not.  Nothing seems to make a difference on whether I get injured or not.  If you push yourself hard enough, no amount of stretching will prevent the injury. 

Just like some of the recent posts, it looks more like warm ups rather than stretching.  Warming up is what I do.  Just get those muscles moving gradually. 

Edited June 10, 2019 by edomingox

[Mr Puddle]

A subject close to my heart. As well as having arthritic feet, I suffer with golfers and tennis elbow, and at present my right shoulder is giving me hell. The strange thing is that taking time off doesn't appear to help it, although I am sure if I took long enough off it may. The problem being that at my age these aches and pains take quite a while to go away. I do a few exercises before I tee off, I also use hot and cold packs, as well as the usual creams. There has also been times when I resort to a tens machine, although that is better for nerve problems. After being retired for four years, I have taken a part time job, which in turn will reduce the amount of golf I play, so who knows, this may help.