If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you probably have heard me explain what led me to create the Peak Performance Golf Swing. If you haven't, then let me describe my motivation in a word: Desperation! You see, after teaching all day, 6-7 days a week for nine straight months I had literally destroyed my back, to the point that I seriously thought about leaving the profession. Over the years, as I refined my body-friendly swing and became known as "The Swing Surgeon", people like Jim Sinclair turned to me for medical advice whenever they experienced pain that shouldn't be there.
"I've followed the vertical swing teachings for the past year. The technique seemed easy to learn and I think I've done well; hitting the ball straighter and with good distance. I'm over 65 and my swing is fairly slow. I walk the course two or three times a week if the weather permits. However, in the last month I've noticed lower right side back pain. It's not spinal, it's more a muscle pull or cramp. It's persistent and it's starting to affect my swing. Do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?"
The truth is Jim, I can't tell if you have a swing fault that is creating your back pain but I can give you a process to follow that may help you get to the heart of the issue. Since you walk the course 2-3 times a week it's quite possible that carrying your bag or pushing/pulling a cart may have aggravated your back muscles. Heck it could even have happened well away from the course for that matter. If you are like me, then you'll have had times when your back spasms when you are seemingly doing nothing at all! The first thing I do when something in my back gets out of whack is to slow down and take some time off to give it a chance to heal. I like to alternate applying heat and cold to the area to help reduce inflammation. If you are able to take NSAID pain relievers, they might help speed the healing process.
If, after a few days, you don't see any improvement, then it's time to seek professional help. You may want to start with a good physical therapist or chiropractor in your area. They can check you over and see if any adjustments are necessary and give you some exercises you can do to strengthen your lower back and improve your overall level of fitness. If they see anything that would suggest this is something more serious than muscle strain, they may recommend that you see an orthopedic specialist. If you end up going that route, you may want to take a wedge with you so you can demonstrate for the doctor exactly how your vertical swing works--this may help him rule out the possibility that your swing is the source of your problem.
I'll close this daily with this thought. My long-time mentor, Dr. Ned Armstrong, one of the country's foremost orthopedic surgeons, says that stress and strain are always a prelude to serious pain. So if you are experiencing chronic back pain, please see a doctor before you injure yourself so severely that you'll be away from golf for a long, long time.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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