Golf Fitness - Low Back Stretches

Leah Gruber is Minneapolis based fitness professional with over 12 years of experience in the industry. As a fitness model and competitor, Leah was crowned Miss Bikini America this past fall in Las Vegas. Leah began taking the game of golf seriously over the past year and continues to improve with hard work and dedication to the game.

Most golfers have felt some degree of lower back pain or discomfort due to their golf swing. A lot of stress can be put on the lumbar spine especially if your swing technique is not the most proper. To help alleviate and prevent back injuries it’s very important that you stretch, work on swing mechanics, and strengthen your core. In this article I will be focusing on a few lower back stretches that can help.

Besides swinging your golf club to warm up try using some stretch exercises before and after to aid in back pain prevention. Stretches can help warm up the muscle tissue making it better able to stabilize the spinal column and in turn putting less stress directly on ligaments tendons and bones. Proper stretching can also prevent tears to the muscles themselves.

My stretches are based on and variations of yoga stretches. While performing all of these positions it’s very important to remember to breathe in deeply to really release in your muscles and get deeper into the stretch.

Hanging Forward Fold

Relax forward, letting yourself hang from your lower back and releasing your neck muscles, let gravity do most of the work. Keep a soft bend in your knee, unless you need even more of a stretch then straighten your knees. Reach down towards the ground or grab your elbows for more of an upper back stretch.

Seated Twist

Start seated in a pike position sitting tall. Cross one leg over the other and cross the opposite elbow over to touch the knee. From here keep turning in the opposite direction of the leg that’s crossed over and look over your shoulder. You can use your elbow to press against your knee to get more leverage and a deeper stretch.

Seated Twisting Forward Fold

Start seated in a pike position. Fold forward with a straight back. As you are folding forward, reach your arms across your body and towards your opposite foot, let your other arm reach back to help twist and open up your spine. After you have done both sides, reach both arms forward to get a good pike stretch. Start with a flat back looking over your toes; after you have held that position for a few deep breaths let your back relax curve over and let your head look down at your legs.

Cat-Cow

On your hands and knees start by grounding through your hands spreading your fingers into the ground then arch your back and look up towards the sky. Breath out and round your back bringing your chin to your chest. Go back and forth between the two at your own pace. Breath in as you look up and breathe out as you bring your chin to your chest.

Rolling on Back

Laying on your back grab behind your knees. Gently rock yourself from front to back while curving your spine. For more of an upper body stretch pull your upper body away from your legs while still holding on to the back of your knees.

Plow

Lay on your back, with your hands on the ground at your side start to bring your feet over your head and down towards the ground. Relax in this position rounding out your low back. For more of a stretch bend your knees down to the ground until they touch. This position can be very intense so take your time getting in and out of it and listen to your body on how far to go.