John Bowman was a family doctor who now specializes in sport medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Collingwood Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre.

PREVENTION OF GOLF INJURIES
By Dr. John Bowman, M.D.

The best solution to any problem is to never have it in the first place. Therefore injury prevention is crucial to a safe and happy golf season.

Injury prevention requires a combination of good judgment as well as proper education and awareness. The following information will help you decrease the risk associated with golf injuries and hopefully save a lot of unnecessary pain, frustration and time away from the course.

Gradually increase your golf activity when starting a new golf season:
- Allow a couple of weeks to build up to your normal activity level
- Avoid hitting a large bucket of balls the first couple of times out at the driving range.
- During the first two weeks, give yourself at least one complete day-off between playing or practice sessions.

Stretch and strengthen your golf muscles:
- Stretching and strengthening are extremely important fitness components
- Improves performance and help prevent injuries
- Ideally seek out a golf fitness program run by a qualified instructor

Know your limits:
- The saying “no pain no gain” is a misconception in any sport
- Pain can be a warning that tissue damage is occurring
- If you have pain from overuse or injury see a health care professional

WARM UP PRIOR TO PLAYING
Many of us know it’s important but few of us do it particularly well.
- An appropriate warm-up permits peak performance right from the first tee and helps prevent injury.
- The ideal warm-up will take 15 - 30 minutes and can be broken down into four sections.

General body warm-up:
- Warm-up the body by low intensity activity that uses as many of the large muscle groups as possible.
- Brisk walking, climbing a flight of stairs, or simply placing a club behind your back and carefully rotating from side-to-side for several minutes.

Stretching:
- Stretch the back, hip, groin, hamstring, quadriceps, calves, neck, shoulders and forearms.
- Each stretch should be gently held for 10 - 20 seconds.
- Pain should not be experienced.

Golf specific drills:
- Gently swing a short iron back and forth.
- Gradually build up the tempo until you feel loose, then add resistance by gently swinging two clubs at once.

Practice:
- Take time to practice a few shots with each of a sort iron, long iron and a driver
- Helps further warm up the golf muscles
- Helps improve timing and consistency.
- Practice your putting as well