When you spend years swiping and thrashing away at a little dimpled ball, aches and pains can be, well, par for the course. A twinge here, a niggle there, sair bits bloomin’ everywhere?
Most golfers have probably experienced a form of lower back pain at some point or another. Tiger Woods, for instance, has had so many surgical procedures on his dodgy dorsal, his lumbar spine is just about propped up by a gothic buttress.
Even you – yes, you reading this – are possibly squirming and grimacing in your seat right now.
That, of course, may have nothing to do with a bad back and everything to do with the wearisome irritation that comes from poring over another of my articles.
Anyway, help is at hand for those who are swinging in the pain. Gavin Routledge, who’s been a practising osteopath for over 30 years and runs the Active X clinic in Edinburgh, has teamed up with Gary Nicol, one of Scotland’s most experienced and respected golf coaches, for an initiative aimed at those with bothersome backs.
The Pain Free and Confident programme, which is supported by the governing body Scottish Golf, offers players from all walks – and hirples – of life a tailor-made service that can help them understand the root causes of their pain, achieve relief and, importantly, keep them playing.
It is the product of an in-depth consultation with over 1000 Scottish golfers suffering lower back pain. One of those was a certain Gavin Hastings.
“I first treated Gavin back in the 1990s,” reflected Routledge. “He’s always been a mad keen golfer. I saw him last autumn and at one point he turned to me and said, ‘Gav, I just want to be able to keep golfing’. In the space of four weeks, I had another couple of pals in their 50s say the same thing.
“A mutual friend introduced to me to Gary and the whole thing grew from there.”
With Routledge’s osteopathy wisdom and Nicol’s expertise in the technicalities and psychology of golf and golfers, this particular duo have amassed an accumulation of knowledge that’s so hefty, you could put your back out going through it.
In this crash, bang, wallop age, especially at the elite level, Nicol often watches the game with a wince.
“Everybody is obsessed with speed and distance,” added Nicol, who has coached numerous golfers to main tour triumphs down the seasons. “There’s a big focus on how far you can hit it. But at what cost?
“When I was growing up, you got a telling off for swinging it too fast. Now it’s completely the opposite. The guys in their 30s now, if they’re not careful, will suffer.”
For us mere golfing mortals and incompetents, meanwhile, the old habits need to change. No more home-spun hocus pocus with the horse liniment then?
“We’ve all been guilty of dashing on to the tee, taking a couple of swings then driving off,” said Routledge, of those shoddy yet timeless warm-up routines that tend to be accompanied by gasps, groans, puffs and profanities.
“It’s hardly ideal. There are lots of drills you can do to prepare yourself for a round but most of the work should be done before you get to the course.
“That can involve things that seem disconnected to golf. How long, for example, do you sit for? It’s looking at the bigger picture not just the day when you play golf.
“This helps to address the root causes rather than just pumping a couple of Ibuprofen before you get on the tee and hoping it will be fine.
“When you have recurring lower back pain you lose confidence. If you can get people changing their habits and get them confident that their back will hold up then it benefits their golf. That’s what we’re about; Pain Free and Confident.”
Poor old Tiger should maybe pay Routledge and Nicol a visit? “I honestly can’t see a way out for him,” sighed Routledge of Woods’ grim physical battle.
“We have known for decades that once you have one disc surgery then the chances of having another are substantially higher, especially if you use the fusion technique like Tiger. It’s a domino effect.”
The wider effects, meanwhile, of bad backs can be considerable. “At the grassroots, if someone can’t play golf, they stop taking a son or a daughter to the golf,” noted Nicol.
“They don’t keep up a membership, they are not buying clubs or balls. There’s a big ripple effect on the industry.”
And on that note, I’m off to do some stretches. Ouch, that’s torn it.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Bad backs are par for the course in golf
