Golf
Golf and Low Back Pain: What Golfers Should Know
The lower back is the most common complaint in golf. Why the swing places demand there, what the hips and mid-back have to do with it, and what tends to help.
Ask a room of golfers where they hurt and the lower back wins comfortably. It is the most common complaint in the sport at every level, from weekend players to touring professionals. That is not an accident. The golf swing asks the lower back to do something specific and repetitive, and when the body around it is not supplying what it should, the back is where the bill arrives.
This article explains why, and what tends to help. It is written for golfers who want to understand what is going on, not to diagnose anyone, and it does not promise anything about your handicap.
What the swing asks of the lower back
A full swing is a rotation problem. The body coils in the backswing, then unwinds through the ball at speed. For that to happen well, rotation needs to come from the places built to supply it: the hips and the thoracic spine (the mid-back).
The lumbar spine, the lower back, is not built to rotate very much. A few degrees per segment. Its job in the swing is to stay relatively stable and transfer force between the hips below and the trunk above.
When the hips and mid-back rotate well, the lower back does that job comfortably. When they do not, the swing still has to happen, so the rotation gets found somewhere else. Very often that is the lumbar spine, taken past what it tolerates well, thousands of times a season.
The common contributors
Limited hip rotation. Particularly internal rotation of the lead hip through impact, and the trail hip in the backswing. When either is restricted, the pelvis cannot turn as far as the swing needs, and the lower back makes up the difference.
A stiff mid-back. The thoracic spine should supply a large share of the upper-body turn. Desk work, age, and simply never asking it to rotate all reduce that. The less it gives, the more the lumbar spine is asked for.
Trunk strength that is not keeping up. Transferring force through the trunk at swing speed requires the muscles around the abdomen and lower back to hold a position under load. If that capacity is low, the spine moves more than it should during the fastest part of the swing.
Volume changes. Spring is a reliable time for golf-related back pain. Little play through the winter, then a lot of it quickly. The tissue’s tolerance did not go up at the same rate as the number of swings.
Compensations that became the swing. Golfers are good at finding a way to hit the ball. A restriction that appeared years ago gets worked around, and the workaround becomes technique. Coaches often spend a long time trying to change something the body is not currently capable of doing differently.
What tends to help
- Restore hip rotation. This is the highest-value change for most golfers with back pain, and it is usually the first thing an evaluation looks at.
- Get the mid-back rotating. Thoracic mobility work, done briefly and consistently, gives the swing another source of turn.
- Build trunk and hip strength. Capacity to hold position under speed is what lets the lower back do its actual job.
- Manage the volume. Especially early in the season. Build up rather than arrive.
- Share information with your coach. A clear picture of what your body can and cannot currently do lets a coach work with it rather than against it.
Where evaluation fits
This is the basis of the golf-specific work at All Square. Dr. Andrew Spehar is TPI Medical Level 3 certified, and that framework is specifically about the relationship between how the body functions and how the swing gets produced. An evaluation looks at rotation, stability, and sequencing, then builds a plan around what is actually limiting you.
It does not replace coaching, and it does not claim to lower scores. What it does is tell you which physical limitations are shaping the way you move, and what it would take to change them. You can read more about golf injury and performance care, or if you would rather hit balls first, the indoor bays are open every day.
The short version
Golf-related back pain is usually the lower back covering for hips and a mid-back that are not rotating enough, under trunk strength that is not keeping up. Address those and the back generally has less reason to complain. If yours has been complaining for a while, a free Discovery Call is a sensible place to start.
The information on this website is provided for general education and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Individual results vary. Nothing here creates a doctor–patient relationship or replaces an in-person evaluation.
