Golfing and the Lumbar spine

Back injuries are common for athletes of all kinds, but golfers are prone to back injury because golfing asks for an enormous amount of torque. Leading spine surgeon Los Angels say professional golfers are not the only golfers at risk for these injuries anyone who golf’s is it at risk of a lumbar back injury. Golfing begins with a back swing and then move through the follow through. The twisted area of back pressures the lumbar spine repeatedly. As a result of reoccurring pressure on the lumbar spine and twisting of the back golfers generally experience a variety of back injuries.

most common back surgeries for golfers are lumbar spine discectomy and lumbar fusion. A lumbar spine discectomy has to be performed when the golfer has a herniated disc. When herniation occurs a fragment of the normal spinal disc is dislodged, and the fragment presses against the spinal cord or the nerves that surround that spinal cord. A herniated disc can be very painful and cause numbness and tingling that can shoot down to the legs. The discectomy removes the fragment of the herniated disc releasing the pressure in that area. In order to perform a lumbar fusion the condition must be so extreme vertebrates have become unstable. With lumbar fusion, surgery places bone graft or synthetic connectors to connect the problematic vertebrate and the body fuses them together over an extended period of time. Golfers generally become impatient and diligent about getting back to golf but leading Los Angeles spine surgeons say taking the corrects steps to spinal surgery recovery is crucial.

Lumbar discectomy and lumbar fusion have very different recovery periods and therefore have different wait times before being able to get back to regular activity and a bit longer to be able to get back to golf. With any Spine surgery Los Angeles leading spine surgery say twisting the back must be put off till surgeons are certain of full recovery. A discectomy has a much shorter recovery time compared to lumbar fusion. A discectomy requires about six weeks of healing when lumbar fusion requires about six months for the site to heal. For both recovery periods twisting will be limited in fear of injuring the site. Although six weeks or six months maybe the recovery time for the site to heal it is not the time is which a golfer can get back out on the field. Because when healing from any spinal surgery Los Angeles movement must be monitored in order to get back to golfing the time must double and sometimes even triple. After 12 weeks of healing from discectomy and 16 months of healing from Lumbar fusion then the patient will be allowed back to golfing but not playing full games unless very little to no pain is felt.

Such back injuries are so common for golfers because generally golfers do not stretch. Stretching is the best prevention medicine for back injuries. Warming up all the muscles makes the body more flexible and less prone to pain. The back becomes more flexible and then less pressure is applied when twisting.