Shoulder Pain

Shoulder injuries are not as common as those to the lower back but become more prevalent as we age. Often when we lose the flexibility in our spine to create a “full turn” we look for other ways to get the club to the top of the back swing. The shoulder can be moved past its normal range of motion attempting to get the club back farther. This comes from a lack of understanding proper swing technique.

The shoulder turn comes from the rotation of the body. The shoulders have nothing to do with the motion. If you try to rotate the shoulders past the normal range of motion for your spine and shoulders, you will lift up. This swing fault can be detected on video analysis. You can learn to detect and correct swing faults that are created by body imbalances in the Body Friendly Golf Book.

Healthcare Professionals... 

The most common injury to the shoulder is the “rotator cuff” injury. The rotator cuff consists of four muscles that hold the head of the humerus or upper arm bone next to the scapula’s genoid cavity. Technically, it’s a ball and socket joint but much less stable than the ball and socket hip joint. It’s the integrity of the rotator cuff that creates the stability of the shoulder joint.

These four muscles must pull in harmony to keep the joint stable and if one of the muscles is pulling aberrantly, the integrity of the whole shoulder is affected. It’s something like the four legs of a table — each leg is critical for stability. It’s necessary to treat shoulder problems early before ligament laxity arrises from the unstable shoulder joint. The entire range of motion of the shoulder is predicated on the full functioning of the muscles.

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