This sounds like me, but I had problems more than once a year. I also lift 4 days a week and have been doing so for about 30 years. I've played multiple competitive sports starting from childhood into my late 20s and have always dealt with pain causing incidents. I started swinging a club in the early summer of 2017. For the first 3 years I visited my doctor multiple times for various problems with my sacroiliac joint, rotator cuff, tendinitis, pinched nerves in my neck, lower back pain. All resulting in days or weeks of recovery. I made some changes and now it's been 2 years since I've had any physical problem that prevented me from swinging a club. Here's what I have done over those years:
- Changed my posture at address. (This is how I found TST in 2017. I read the "Good Golf Posture" topic. I had way too much anterior pelvic tilt.)
- Changed the way I work out. (Went to dumbbells exclusively. Systematically identified/eliminated exercises that caused problems. Wide grip anything, dips, dead-lifts, dumbbell rows, and some others. Increased focus on strengthening my back/neck/glutes/hamstrings.)
- Found out how to recover quicker from the pinched nerve in my neck. (I found out an inflamed/cramped muscle next to my shoulder blade was the cause. I use a percussion massager on that spot and my recovery time went from 5-7 days to 1-2.)
- Cut down on sugar in my diet. (Went to black coffee, no sweetened beverages, limited sweets, etc. This is when I stopped having the pinched nerve problem.)
- Stopped taking NSAIDs unless absolutely necessary. (I was popping ibuprofen at the drop of a hat. I would take them before a round of golf. Now I only take them once in a blue moon when I have a headache.)
There's probably more but that's all I can think of at the moment.