Golfing injuries

[paininthenuts]

Only been playing 6 months, and admittedly I am no spring chicken, however this is crazy. I have shoulder impingement in my right shoulder, tennis elbow in my left arm, I am starting to get golfers elbow in my right arm, and my left shoulder is also showing signs of impingement. I spend the evening transferring ice packs and heat pads from one part of my body to another. As well as this I have tried various exercises, which to be honest appear to make the problems worse. When I play, I go out on the course strapped up like a mummy, covered up by a jacket so I don't look to stupid. Someone once told me golf was meant to be good for you!

What are your stories about golfing injuries, and have you any advice regarding my falling apart body ?

[boogielicious]

6 minutes ago, paininthenuts said:

Only been playing 6 months, and admittedly I am no spring chicken, however this is crazy. I have shoulder impingement in my right shoulder, tennis elbow in my left arm, I am starting to get golfers elbow in my right arm, and my left shoulder is also showing signs of impingement. I spend the evening transferring ice packs and heat pads from one part of my body to another. As well as this I have tried various exercises, which to be honest appear to make the problems worse. When I play, I go out on the course strapped up like a mummy, covered up by a jacket so I don't look to stupid. Someone once told me golf was meant to be good for you!

What are your stories about golfing injuries, and have you any advice regarding my falling apart body ?

The Fitness and Exercise section has a lot of threads on this. For we older people, a lot of the workouts we do is to prevent injury as much as improve strength and flexibility.

[vangator]

CTCream for the tendonitis in the elbows.  It really works.

[Wally Fairway]

I have 2 golf injury stories:

- When I was caddying in the City Match Play Championship we had to wait for the pro to come out for a ruling on a par 3. While we were standing beside the green, I was struck on the ankle (right on the bone). Hurt like hell, but we went on to win the match and I received a nice tip.

- About 20 years ago, I was playing with my younger brother and we were walking. On the 7th hole, I was walking through some mounding in the right rough I went down like I had been shot. I couldn't walk, could barely stand on my right leg. So he goes to the clubhouse and gets a cart to take me to the parking lot and the medi-clinic. Turns out I tore a group of ligaments & tendons just above the ankle; no idea how that happened.
To this day I will avoid those mounds, and it is one of my favorite courses.

 

My only advice it that your body is telling you something isn't right, get a good physical therapist or MD to figure out the problem. DO NOT try to self diagnose. I have a softball injury story that explains that, when I was young (like 35 years ago) I used to play a lot of softball, and my throwing shoulder started to hurt. I ignored it for the better part of a year, until it started to affect my golf, but I was afraid it was going to be surgery and I didn't want that. Finally I went to see a doctor and he said it was ligaments damaged around the shoulder joint which were allowing the ball to slip out of the socket - the cure was a series of exercises and about 4-6 weeks later it was much better. So between the exercise and quitting softball a year or two later, my golf game was finally unaffected.

[paininthenuts]

8 minutes ago, vangator said:

CTCream for the tendonitis in the elbows.  It really works.

Typical. In the UK this cream costs £16 ($24), in the U>S. it's $12

[Psyber]

I'm in the same boat as you OP with tennis elbow and I am a pretty young and healthy guy with a long history of physical activity. Turns out my elbow really is not a fan of golf. Acupuncture has been helping a bit. More the deep tissue massage the guy does than the acupuncture though.

[vangator]

2 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Typical. In the UK this cream costs £16 ($24), in the U>S. it's $12

That does suck.  Too bad.  The stuff has really been a god send for me.  I had golfers and tennis elbow so bad I could hardly swing a club.  It's gone now and I play more than ever.  It not only masks the pain, but actually cures the problem with its' anti inflammatories.

[Patch]

Except for a tweaked ankle or two from stepping in rodent holes on a golf course, I have never had a golf related injury. Nothing  that was caused by my golf swing. This after 4+ decades of golf.

I have suffered injuries from other sources that put a damper on my golf game.

I think those folks who live active life styles, with out over doing it, once they get older, are better candidates to stay injury free. 

[paininthenuts]

13 hours ago, Patch said:

Except for a tweaked ankle or two from stepping in rodent holes on a golf course, I have never had a golf related injury. Nothing  that was caused by my golf swing. This after 4+ decades of golf.

I have suffered injuries from other sources that put a damper on my golf game.

I think those folks who live active life styles, with out over doing it, once they get older, are better candidates to stay injury free. 

Not sure if it works like that. I used to play a lot of racket sports, especially squash, but never got tennis elbow. I just think it's something about the golf swing movement, and the way my limbs are constructed that has caused the problem. To be honest, it's the shoulder impingement that is the big problem.

[Marty2019]

17 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Only been playing 6 months, and admittedly I am no spring chicken, however this is crazy. I have shoulder impingement in my right shoulder, tennis elbow in my left arm, I am starting to get golfers elbow in my right arm, and my left shoulder is also showing signs of impingement. I spend the evening transferring ice packs and heat pads from one part of my body to another. As well as this I have tried various exercises, which to be honest appear to make the problems worse. When I play, I go out on the course strapped up like a mummy, covered up by a jacket so I don't look to stupid. Someone once told me golf was meant to be good for you!

What are your stories about golfing injuries, and have you any advice regarding my falling apart body ?

I went back to golf when I was about 60, and I also had a series of, I wouldn't call them injuries, more soreness and various aches and pains.   Lower back soreness, elbow soreness, neck pain, that sort of thing.   All I did was take time off occasionally, maybe a couple of weeks a few times, take some Advil, and I have slowly gotten to where I don't have these pains any more.  

In my non-medical opinion, the only cure is rest.   It worked for me. 

Whatever you do, stop playing until you are well.   Otherwise,  you will turn a minor injury into a major one.   By which I mean, you will turn a 2 week injury into a 6 month injury.    So, stop and get well. 

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Marty2019

[sjduffers]

I had one golf injury, along with the usual nagging aches and pain. I swung the club (some kind of fairway wood I think) violently once, with such an awful tempo that I pulled my oblique muscle on the left side: I think I screamed during the swing! I wasn't able to make a full swing for probably about a month after that. It was in a club tournament, so I had to WD/DQ and finished the round just chipping and putting along while the other guys were playing...

[Fourputt]

On 3/8/2016 at 11:09 AM, Psyber said:

I'm in the same boat as you OP with tennis elbow and I am a pretty young and healthy guy with a long history of physical activity. Turns out my elbow really is not a fan of golf. Acupuncture has been helping a bit. More the deep tissue massage the guy does than the acupuncture though.

I had to have surgery on my right elbow about 13 years ago (in my mid 50's).  Initially it was for a bone spur on my humerus, but during the surgery he found and removed a chunk of cartilage that was just floating loose.  That was what had really been making the elbow "pop" occasionally (and very painfully) at the impact point in the swing.  It still gives me a little pain on occasion, but nothing like it did before the procedure.

A few years before that I actually broke my left wrist on a swing during a round (I didn't realize it was broken at the time).  I finished the round in pain, scored quite well, then went to the doctor that Monday and found out that there was a broken bone.  Didn't swing a club for almost 2 months.

[Howling Coyote]

I guess I have been lucky.  I too am no spring chicken, but have no injuries.  I don't exercise, except walking and ocassionally ice skate.  I stretch and warm up before I play and that's all.  But I can't achieve much club head speed.  So I have to stick to shorter courses.

So when I hear about Tiger Woods-and in my opinion he is a spring chicken-I just don't understand.

Have you thought about asking a professional for advice?  Professional would be someone like an orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, etc.

[ev780]

OP. Sounds a bit much to me. We all have aches and pains related to golf that tend to move around. Game is hard on your body. But, it sounds like you have one of two things going on. Poor general fitness or a swing that is wreaking havoc. 

You might want to check in with a trainer who knows golf and work from that angle. I hear the TPI stuff is really good but I have no first hand experience.

Just a thought.

[paininthenuts]

1 hour ago, ev780 said:

OP. Sounds a bit much to me. We all have aches and pains related to golf that tend to move around. Game is hard on your body. But, it sounds like you have one of two things going on. Poor general fitness or a swing that is wreaking havoc. 

You might want to check in with a trainer who knows golf and work from that angle. I hear the TPI stuff is really good but I have no first hand experience.

Just a thought.

Ummm, my general fitness is very good, I drink as much beer as I can, and I feel this helps. Unfortunately my family history leads to poor joints. Regarding my swing, I believe it must be good, because I manage to hit at least one reasonable shot every round.

[Psyber]

29 minutes ago, paininthenuts said:

Ummm, my general fitness is very good, I drink as much beer as I can, and I feel this helps. Unfortunately my family history leads to poor joints. Regarding my swing, I believe it must be good, because I manage to hit at least one reasonable shot every round.

That's pretty funny haha

[ev780]

On 3/10/2016 at 10:47 AM, paininthenuts said:

Ummm, my general fitness is very good, I drink as much beer as I can, and I feel this helps. Unfortunately my family history leads to poor joints. Regarding my swing, I believe it must be good, because I manage to hit at least one reasonable shot every round.

That it does.

I guess you have a genetics problem. As do I it just hasn't shown up yet.  As with any sport your chances are better if you have a doc or physical therapist who plays the game. Good luck!

[TJBam]

I had an ingrown fingernail on my right hand one time.  I tried to keep playing and adjusted my grip to accommodate.  The grip screwed me up (it was sort of a 2 finger Furyk grip) and was causing issues in the swing with the adjusted grip.  Ended up hurting my back trying to use it.  WTH!

The body is a finely tuned machine.  Take care of it!  Everyone do yourselves a favor, stand up and get a couple hip flexor, wrist, neck, back stretches in for a few minutes...