Prepare Your Shoulders for Golf
The golf swing places high demands on the shoulders. The repetition of the swing also helps to make the shoulder a prime target for strain and injury. Stretching and improving the muscular strength of the shoulder area can do much to not only improve and prevent injury, but it can also improve your golf swing.
Repeated motion of the golf swing over many years may irritate and wear down the tendons, muscles, and surrounding structures of the shoulder. The resulting conditions may be tendonitis, bursitis, and impingement syndrome of the shoulder. These conditions may occur alone or in combination.
As always, prevention is the best cure. Exercises that involve stretching and strengthening the muscles in the shoulder area are a good way to help to prevent common shoulder problems. If one of the above problems is present, once inflammation has subsided, exercises will help to restore normal movement.
Stretching your shoulders is important to perform before practice or a round of golf. Most golfers don?t spend adequate time stretching and warming up the muscles before play. This can easily lead to strain, injury, and poor performance on the course. Unconditioned muscles become weak and inflexible causing them to be more susceptible to strain and injury.
Here are a few exercises to help strengthen and maintain more flexibility in the shoulder area.
Back Cuff Stretch - Place left hand on right elbow and right hand on left shoulder. Gently pull back right arm. Repeat on left. Hold for 15 ?20 seconds.
Front Cuff Stretch - Hold your hands behind your back and slowly raise your arms. Don?t bounce. Hold for 15-20 seconds.
Rotator Cuff Exercise - Do 20 slow arm circles to warm up. Hold a small dumbbell in each hand. Point thumb down and raise arms out to the side and slightly forward. Do not raise past shoulder level. Repeat 10 times.
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Susan Hill is a nationally recognized golf fitness trainer and Chek golf biomechanic. She has written articles for Golf Illustrated, Travel Golf, and Resort Golf among others. Her work has been featured in Self magazine and on ESPN. For more information on golf specific programs, visit www.fitnessforgolf.com.