Hip Hip Hooray, Hip Pain Away!

One of the most common complaints of adverse golfers is hip pain especially of the lead leg, commonly the left leg. The hip joint does a good job of transferring the weight of our body to our pelvic and allowing us to do many activities.

However, the swing and follow through motions of golfing can add a lot of stress to the joint. Specifically, at the follow through phase of a golf swing, almost 90% of an individuals weight is placed onto one hip. Creating a large force and pressure onto a specific joint.

 Why is there pain?

Most golfer will complain of pain on the inner and outer hip.  Many of these symptoms come about because the lead hip is taking a lot more stress and force than it is supposed to.

This causes other parts of the body such as the muscles surrounding the hip, opposite leg, pelvic and low back to have to compensate, which results in pain in those regions.

Focusing on the lead hip pain. Some describe the discomfort as being a pulling sensation on the outer side of their leg. Which is usually cause by the increased tightness of Iliotibial band, muscles and ligaments which has helps to stabilise the leg and hip during swing off.

This muscles and ligaments stretches across the side of the leg and during golfing have to work extra hard to keep your leg in position when you tee off!

The uneven distribution of weight causes the hip joint to be more susceptible to injury. Therefore, it is important to tackle the pain in the early stages than later, as it can lead to degeneration of the joint.

How to avoid injury? 

In order to protect your hip, it is key to strengthen your pelvic and core muscles.

Exercises which focuses on increasing the strength of core muscles, allows the hip to take less of the affects from constant rotation. Instead the weight is more efficiently carried from the pelvic down to the ground.

Specific stretches on the muscles that are constantly contracted during playing golf will also help decrease pain. Doing stretches of the pelvic stabilising muscles (i.e. gluteus medius, piriformis muscles, core muscles and iliotibial band) will allow your hip to maintain a good range of motion and recover better!

Stretches are done to help relax some of the muscles that have to contract and do more work during certain activities.

Here at Healthworks we have a team of Chiropractors, Physiotherapists and Fitness trainers who are well versed with this sort of conditions. We work with our patients to help them Move better, Get fit and Be well. If you are experiencing the symptoms mentioned above, we encourage you to be assessed by a professional. You can make an appointment with us today at https://myhealthworks.com.my/ or contact us at 018 – 982 8539 or 03-6211 7533.