Driving a golf ball is an amazing feat for the body, involving complex body mechanics.Golf professional Ted Fort is the director of instruction at Legacy Windy Hill in Smyrna, Georgia. He recently discussed the golf swing at length with chiropractic doctor Joe LaCaze.1 He described how swinging a golf club moves the head of the club through an arc that requires a fixed axis of rotation. That axis is your spine. It is around the spine that our arms, hands and the golf club rotate. They spoke about three fundamental requirements for the swing to be effective. The spine needs to be stable. The muscles around it need to be balanced. And third, the vertebrae of the spine need to be freely movable. They all interrelate, but we can discuss them one at a time.

The brain does not like the spine to be unstable. It will protect the spinal column at all costs by stabilizing it. If you injure your spine, ligaments that hold the vertebrae in place may get stretched or torn, allowing too much movement of the injured spinal joint or segment. The first thing the brain does is splint up that area and stabilizes it by tensing the muscles around it, which get taut, knotted and painful. But even with no injury the body is constantly stabilizing the spine. Dr. LaCaze explained that every time you make a movement the body keeps the spine stable by contracting the innermost core muscles. If these are not ready for action, because they are too weak or too tight, the body resorts to the muscles further out that are more for movement than stabilization, which totally upsets the mechanics of the body. The muscles you want to use for your swing are already tensed stabilizing the spine. So chiropractic doctors can offer exercises to strengthen and stretch those inner muscles to insure you have a stable spine as an axis for your swing.

For a smooth swing, the muscles on both sides of the spine need to be balanced. Instability of the spine is one way the muscles get imbalanced. But bad posture or failing to do some warm up exercises are other ways you can end up with unevenly tensed muscles around the spine. They will not only affect your swing badly, but they also make you more likely to injure your spine. Chiropractic doctors can spot muscle imbalances when they examine your back, and again can recommend exercises to strengthen weak areas, and provide care to relax overly tight muscles.

For an unimpeded swing to maximize club head speed and the distance of your drive, you need your spine to be freely movable at each vertebra or spinal segment. Adhesions from minor old injuries that you may not have even been aware of can limit the range of motion between any two adjoining vertebrae. Chiropractic adjustments to the spine specifically move these joints, break adhesions, and restore full range of motion to them allowing more powerful drives.

One of Dr. LaCaze’s recent patients is professional golfer Lori West. Her trainer is Ted Fort. So Dr. LaCaze told Ted that he had been working with Lori to improve the function of her spine and asked if Ted had noticed any improvements in her swing or game. Ted answered “Only infinitely! I think Lori is in better shape now than in the last 18 years on tour.”2 In a separate interview, Lori spoke of the benefits of chiropractic care saying, “When I have subluxations, a lot of times I can’t bear weight on my hips. When I take the club back, I have to bear weight on my right hip, and as I go through I have to bear weight on my left hip. It is a transfer of weight and the more stable I am, then the better I can hit a shot. In the last three or four years [chiropractic] has really turned my golf game around. I am hitting the ball further than ever before.”3 She continued, “I did a survey of myself in tournaments I played in. Usually whatever event that has a chiropractor, I play much better, I make much more money and I feel better.”4 Speaking of her win at the June 2002 Hy-Vee Classic in Des Moines, Iowa she expressed her appreciation of a combined-care approach saying, “I don’t know if it was because of my coach or chiropractor, but I would hate to be without either of them.”5

While chiropractic doctors focus on the spine, we have a great deal of training in overall body mechanics. The way your shoulders function, how you transfer your weight from one hip to the other during the swing, and even your grip all have huge effects on your swing and may benefit from a chiropractic evaluation. While professionals certainly benefit, chiropractic care is not just for the professionals. Average duffers may also find themselves hitting the ball straighter and farther, and trimming strokes off their score, with regular chiropractic care.

1. “Golf and Chiropractic,” May/June 2003, Today’s Chiropractic, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.
46-54.
2. Ibid., p. 52
3. P. Stechschulte, “A Drive for Chiropractic,” May/June 2003, Today’s Chiropractic, Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 50.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.

Tiger Woods’ success is likely due to a combination of inborn talent, an early start as a child, constant support from his father and family, long hours of practice, intense physical conditioning, and consistent chiropractic care. Even back when he was a student at Stanford University, he had discovered the benefits of chiropractic care. During those college years he continued his rise to fame by winning the 1994 Amateur Golf Championship. Because he was outspoken about the help he got with chiropractic care, he was selected as one of four celebrities on the January 1995 Rosebowl Parade float celebrating the centennial of chiropractic. He went on to win the 1995 and 1996 Amateur Golf Championships, becoming the first person to ever win it three times and consecutively no less.

Just before the Rose Bowl Parade, he was interviewed and said, “Being a chiropractic patient has really helped me a lot. When I was in a growth spurt, my back became very sore, and I was weak. My chiropractor really helped me. Not only did he adjust my spine, he also gave me strengthening exercises to do. If you are tall and gangly like I am, or play sports, I would recommend chiropractic.”1

Tiger, whose real name is Eldrick, went on to join the pros in the summer of 1996 and won the Masters in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Only Jack Nicklaus has won that event more times (6 times2). Tiger has also won 4 PGA championships, 2 U.S. Open championships, and 3 British Open championships.3

The causes of back pain may be numerous, of course, and this study just points to one possible cause out of many. Certainly more research is needed but the growing epidemic of back pain might at least in part be explained by our growing consumption of inflammatory foods and exposure to environmental toxins. For your health on all fronts, we encourage you to avoid toxins and avoid foods that inflame your body. Ask us about it or search inflammatory foods online.

1. T. Feuling, 1999, Chiropractic Works, p. 25, Wellness Solutions, Chandler, AZ.
2. http://www.masters.org/en_US/history/records/champions.html.
3. Official website for Tiger Woods (http://www.tigerwoods.com/defaultflash.sps).

The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) takes good care of their players.

At each of the official money events of the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour you will find two tractor-trailers parked in the parking lot. One is a state of the art treatment station and the other contains an extensive exercise gym for the golfers.1 The treatment trailer at each tournament is staffed by one of twelve chiropractic doctors along with two or three physical therapists and athletic trainers, and periodically, if needed, by medical staff like orthopedists. The chiropractic doctors take turns during the yearlong season working the tournaments in their region so each can continue to maintain their own practice. Dr. Tom Lafountain of New York, heads up the chiropractic team as the PGA’s director of chiropractic services, working about 8 tournaments a year before returning to his practice.2 A few years back the medical staff offered Dr. Lafountain a full-time position on the tour but with his family and his practice he could not do it and so offered to hire other chiropractic doctors for other regions of the country.

The golfers come for help with all sorts of injuries and even minor aches and pains. They know that even a slight problem can cost them a stroke or two and with that, a tournament. The chiropractic doctors and the athletic trainers do the bulk of the day-to-day work, but they work together as a team with the physical therapists and the medical staff. Pro golf has long recognized the value of chiropractic care. The head athletic trainer even admitted that there are five to seven golfers on the tour who insist on chiropractic care exclusively, but generally they all work together to best serve the needs of the golfers. Dr. Lafountain reported that chiropractic services are utilized about 1,500 times a year. Some 76 to 80 percent of those requests for care were for problems with the lower back with the next most common being neck, shoulder, and hip problems followed by forearm and wrist problems.3

The work they do with the golfers is not all responses to problems and injuries. They have learned the type of injuries that are most likely to occur to a pro golfer and so have implemented a stretching routine, and physical conditioning program, which they carry out in the second foldout trailer. Many of the younger members pursue the exercise routines after seeing the success of well-conditioned athletes like Tiger Woods who frequently uses the services of Dr. Lafountaine and chiropractic care.4

1. Original research (two studies) by E. Fisher, 2003, Annals of Internal Medicine, but recently reported in “Too Much of a Good Thing,” February 2008, Harvard Health Letter, Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 4.