The golf swing requires proper body mechanics. Proper body mechanics requires full rotational mobility of nearly every joint involved and must be done—efficiently, explosively and repeatedly. Many swing faults are a result of poor joint mobility, resulting from soft tissue restrictions. Soft tissue includes muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia.
PGA Tour players, along with other serious athletes, seek out Active Release Technique (ART) to improve flexibility, quickly recover from injury and prevent compensations from occurring. ART is a patented, state-of-the-art, soft-tissue movement based manual therapy technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.
Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, golfers elbow and tennis elbow are a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions have one important thing in common: they are often a result of repetitive strain creating adhesions or scar tissue in the soft tissue.
Muscle tightness
The scar tissue that forms at the injury site is less elastic and more fibrotic then normal soft tissue, and it causes muscles to gradually lose their stretch component. Short, tight muscles will impair coordination, reduce power, play havoc with your golf swing and result in further injuries. This cycle repeats itself unless these restrictions are released.
Common swing faults
Swing faults occur due to physical restrictions in the body. Most common areas are found in the shoulder joint and hip joint.
When shoulder mobility is restricted, the common swing faults that occur are losing posture and getting too steep on backswing. The body tries to compensate with excessive spinal rotation. This can create a back injury because most people already lack flexibility in their spine.
In addition, golfers will notice that they have difficulties in: (1) Keeping their eyes on the ball; (2) Maintaining an optimal swing plane.
This results in poor outcomes, such as fat or thin shots, and it increases chances of hooking or slicing. Tightness in the hip joints is the most common area that golfers experience. Common swing faults that correlate with restrictions here are swaying, losing posture, early extension, hanging back and scooping. As is evident, losing mobility in the hips can create multiple problems in your golf swing.
The lack of hip mobility in the golf swing is also the No. 1 cause of low back pain due to compensations that occur in the spine. The low back will undergo a tremendous amount of rotational forces if the hips are not rotating properly.
Will stretching help?
Stretching will not break adhesions. Professional athletes who are constantly stretching find it difficult to release soft tissue adhesions. This is why so many professional and serious amateur athletes seek out ART to remove and release these adhesions. Soft tissue adhesions are several times stronger than normal tissue.
Often muscle fibers and muscle groups will literally adhere to each other, preventing the normal sliding necessary for full mobility. When stretching, the first tissue that elongates is not the adhered tissue, but the normal healthy tissue.
Apply ART to improving your swing
In order to effectively balance your muscles and remove joint restrictions we first must identify where your muscle imbalances occur. By utilizing a comprehensive golf functional assessment, we can identify the exact type, extent and location of muscle restrictions.
ART treatments are then utilized to remove and release these restrictions. ART will dramatically improve your joint mobility which will in turn improve your golf swing and prevent injury. Seek out an ART (www.activerelease.com) doctor in your area and see the results for yourself!