Temperature Drops Sharply, Beware of Winter Golf Injuries... 'Seukwat' and 'Wrist Stretching' Essential

Top Golf Injury: 'Spine' Ranked 1st, 'Elbow' 2nd
Be Especially Careful in Early Winter When Temperatures Drop Suddenly
Squats Help Strengthen Lower Body and Back Muscles
If Elbow Hurts, It's Best to Rest for 2-3 Weeks Before Playing Again

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seohee] Many people perceive golf as a light exercise. This is because it is not as intense as other sports and can be done comfortably.

However, golf is surprisingly a dangerous sport. According to the Korean Society of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine, golf is classified as an exercise with a risk level of 'moderate' or higher. Since it can lead to serious injuries, special care is required before and after playing. The risk of injury is especially higher in early winter when temperatures drop sharply. Here, we introduce the most common injuries that can occur during golf and how to prevent them.

The Most Common Injury is the ‘Spine’… 2nd is the ‘Elbow’

The most common injury site during golf is the ‘spine.’ According to a survey conducted by the Korean Society of Sports Medicine targeting amateur golfers, the main injury sites caused by golf are ▲spine (28?35%) ▲elbow (25?30%) ▲hand/wrist (12?15%) ▲shoulder (10?15%) ▲hip joint (5?7%) in that order.

Spinal injuries include lumbar sprain, herniated disc (lumbar disc), rib sprain/fracture, etc. Elbow injuries include golf elbow and tennis elbow.

Golf-related injuries are mostly caused by repetitive swings. Repeated swinging causes certain muscles in the body to be overused, which accumulates fatigue in specific muscles and leads to long-term muscle damage. Especially in golf, the risk of injury is high in areas such as the spine, elbow, and wrist muscles, which are not frequently used in daily life. In rare cases, it can even lead to spinal fractures and brain injuries.

If you are playing rounds in early winter when temperatures drop sharply, you need to be even more cautious about injuries. When the weather gets cold, muscles and ligaments stiffen, and using muscles without sufficient warm-up increases the risk of tears. According to the ‘Sports Safety Accident Survey’ published by the Sports Safety Foundation, the ‘most severe injury occurrence rate’ due to exercise was highest in November at 18.4%, followed by December at 14.5%.

Increase Lower Body Muscles with ‘Squats’… ‘Wrist Stretching’ is Also Essential

To reduce the risk of spinal injury, three things must be followed. First, reduce body weight to lessen the burden on muscles around the waist. Second, quit smoking to facilitate the supply of nutrients and metabolic waste movement to the discs. Third, strengthen the muscles around the waist.

Squats are a simple exercise that can be done alone to strengthen the muscles around the waist. Doing 50 to 100 bodyweight squats daily helps develop the gluteal muscles and effectively strengthens the erector spinae muscles. Since these muscles connect to the back and neck, strengthening them repeatedly also helps increase shot distance.

If you have weak knees and feel pain during squats, it is better to replace squats with planks. Planks are one of the effective exercises to strengthen core muscles and erector spinae muscles. Depending on individual strength, beginners can perform planks for about 5 minutes a day in 30-second intervals to see effects without overstraining other areas.

Elbow pain is mainly divided into golf elbow (medial epicondylitis) and tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis). Golf elbow is a condition where pain occurs on the inside of the elbow when bending the hand backward, as in golf, while tennis elbow is pain on the outside of the elbow when bending the hand forward. Although these terms are mainly used because these injuries frequently occur in golf and tennis, symptoms can sometimes appear in opposite movements.

If you have elbow pain, it is best to rest from golf for about 2 to 3 weeks. After returning to the field, it is important to relieve tension before swinging through sufficient stretching. To prevent golf elbow with pain on the inside of the elbow, stretch by extending the arm with the palm facing forward and slowly pulling the fingers toward the body with the opposite hand. Conversely, for golfers suffering from tennis elbow with pain on the outside of the elbow, extend the arm with the back of the hand facing forward and slowly bend the fingers toward the body to relax the muscles.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.