May it be an amateur or a professional golfer, most everyone has tried to put-in extra force, unnaturally hard and fast swing, to tee-off the ball. However, often failing to understand that extra force isn’t the key to an optimal impact. Golf wrist pain is increasingly catching attention as more golfers are experiencing wrist injuries.
Let’s see what causes the golf wrist pain and how you can prevent it, before you need a treatment or cure for a wrist injury.
- Reason for Golf Wrist Pain –
Golf causes a significant number of injuries to wrist; more severe if correct swing action is not applied, including tendonitis, fractures and nerve injuries. Most common golf wrist injury is tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, which occur due to prolonged and repetitive practice or poor swing mechanics. Mostly the leading wrists are injured, left for right-handed and right for left-handed. Since the golf swing terminates with the impact of club and the ball, a shock is generated. If the swing action is less controlled, the club speed decreases dramatically and suddenly, more in case of miss-hit if the club goes deeper in the ground, which causes tendons and nerves in wrists to absorb the resulting shock of impact. Many golfers believe that more flexing of wrists produces greater flexibility in the swing shot. Tendon injuries in the wrist and hand such as inflammation and De Quervain’s disease can result if the golf club is gripped too tightly during the swing.
- Symptoms of Golf Wrist Pain –
- Swelling in the wrist after playing a round or practice.
- Wrist feels stiff and normal movements such as opening jars, carrying luggage or shaking hands are painful as you find difficult in griping the objects with enough force.
- Pressure on the top of the wrist causing severe pain.
- Weakness in wrist and hand that increases with time, or numbness around thumb and fingers.
- Impaired co-ordination of thumb and fingers such that fine movements become difficult.
- Quitting on golf shots at impact and to make a complete golf swing.
- Exercises for Golf Wrist Pain –
Stretching is often under-utilized mechanisms to prevent wrist pain in golfers. However, few simple exercises, more specific to wrist action, can show tremendous results towards prevention of wrist injury. Isometric exercises that involve contraction of muscles without wrist movement imparts strength and improve blood flow apart from warm-up for wrists. Flexibility exercises should also be practiced to reduce pressure on tendons. Professional golf trainers advise against extreme flexions and extensions as they double the pressure on median nerve associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. The grip on the club should be eased a bit during address. Replace old, worn grips. It is also advised to use clubs that fits your hand like a glove, neither too short nor too long. All exercises should aim to provide symmetry to create good rolling of the forearms. Strengthening does not need to work on bringing the wrist up and down with weights but should focus on the grip strength and left versus right balance. And remember that strength comes from the core muscles and not from wrists’ smaller muscles.
- Treatment for Golf Wrist Injuries –
Doctors and therapists advise on using ice packs and massage to relieve the pain. Inflammatory drugs can also help alleviate the immediate pain. Wearing wrist bands helps in absorbing the shock during impact, keeping intact the delicate tendons around the wrists.
Understanding the reasons as well as symptoms for golf wrist pain is essential for every golfer to prevent and fittingly treat wrist injury.
