HealthLinksSC.com | 17 Kim Durst, PT, DPT, clinical director of Axis Clinical Therapy, said they see a variety of lower back issues in golfers, and it’s probably the most frequent golf injury they treat. Most of these injuries are the result of a cumulative effect — “a series of microtraumas,” Durst explained. “What we see is that there is just a lot of repetitive, loaded, twisting that’s occurring, really in one part of the spine, and that’s what leads to that microtrauma.” Often it starts with mild back pain and instead of dealing with it, people just play through it. But it can eventually lead to surgeries and injections if left unaddressed. If you begin having pain, especially if it lasts beyond a week, Durst recommended seeing your doctor or a physical therapist. Pete Skirpstas, golf operations manager at the Links at Stono Ferry, said the biggest evolution of anything in terms of the modern golf swing has been the equipment and the troves of data collection that now inform swing techniques. In today’s game, you can better understand the biomechanics of the swing and put the body in different positions based on that data. For example, now you don’t see as much lateral movement on swings, and it’s more of a rotational move, he elaborated.
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