When an athlete sustains an injury the sports medicine specialist will establish a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation regime. From acute care to the rehabilitative phase the objective is prepare the athlete to return to full performance capability. The difficulty is in determining when full recovery has been established. PGA golfers and instructors are anxious and edgy to return to competition. In all sports different progressive phases of rehabilitation are established to replicate the physical demand the athlete must achieve to show readiness to return.
A example on the PGA Tour can be seen in a common injury such as tendonitis in the forearm. Weekly in the PGA Performance Center we treat extensor tendonitis in the lead forearm. This injury becomes especially prevalent where the rough is high at certain events. Amateurs in the northern half of the United States will be susceptible to this injury hitting of mats indoors during the long winter months.
The injury can be lateral epicondylitis or more isolated to the extensor carpi ulnaris or extensor digitorum communis. Our staff in the Performance Center has a treatment regime that is very effective at alleviating symptoms and restoring capability. The golfer is left with specific warm up exercises to add to their typical exercise protocol before playing for a period of 4-6 weeks. We have found that this inhibits any reoccurrence of symptoms.
Periodically the PGA golfer will return to play and feel so good they drop the specific stretching and activation exercises within a week or two. They later plan on a day of practicing their short game and do not warm up since it’s only their short game. Within a couple of swings they feel a twinge of pain in the forearm again.
It is very important to emphasize warming up for 4-6 weeks after they return to play even if it is supposedly going to be a light hitting day. At impact the lead forearm extensors are in an eccentric load and with ground contact highly susceptible to reinjury.
Golfers- if you have specific weak points from previous injury be sure to give yourself time to warm up no matter how many balls you are going to hit.
Chiropractors and Physical Therapists- be sure to emphasize the need for continual warm up to avoid all your great work going to waste.
