Chiropractic Santa Barbara treats hundreds of individuals, adults and children alike, who have sustained sports injuries. With any kind of sport, injuries are commonplace. You can often avoid getting injured in a particular sport by discovering what injury is likely to occur, and then do as much as you can to avoid it. The Truth is, however, that sports injuries can’t always be avoided. Consequently, it’s important to be in good physical shape to make injury less probable, or less traumatic.   Prior to starting a sport, such as golf, the most valuable thing you can do is to be sure that you have an appropriate fitness level. By cultivating a healthy lifestyle, making sure your joints are mobile and your muscles are limber, warming and stretching your body before activity, using proper form and good postures while actively playing, and giving yourself an appropriate amount of cool down and relaxation time, you will probably keep your body safe from injury.

Golf injuries don’t just happen to amateurs. It has been conjectured that almost a third of pro golfers playing concurrently are playing with injuries. Fortunately, general good health and fitness can reduce the number of injuries that you may experience and may actually preclude them completely.

Good body strength in the muscle regions most used when golfing is very important. However, before you try to build muscle strength, it’s important to make certain your spine is aligned and has good mobility. A successful golf swing is contingent upon your spine’s facility to adequately move in a rotational fashion. Back injuries are the most common sort of injuries sustained by golfers. Your chiropractor will insure that your spine is in healthy alignment and that there is efficient movement of the vertebrae. Chiropractic treatment can make a big difference in helping you to avoid back injury.

Once you’re “straightened” it’s time to strengthen. Being prepared for your golf game is paramount to a safe, injury-free day on the green. Golf stretching and flexibility practices will warm up your muscles and make straining them less likely. Full body range of motion (ROM) exercises will increase flexibility, fairly speedily, in all regions of the body. Furthermore, elastic band conditioning offers targeted golf range of motion improvements and can build needed power in the shoulders, hips and deep muscles of the core. Sports professionals, like your chiropractor, are adding elastic band training to their golf conditioning programs because the bands provide dynamic resistance that regular weight lifting does not supply.

Along with back injuries, a large number of golfers have painful “Golfer’s Elbow.” There is a minor difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow though they are almost the same. Whereas the outside of the upper arm is affected in tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow impinges the inner arm. Golfer’s elbow, like tennis elbow, can be the consequence of a single intense action, such as (in golf) striking the mat at the driving range or hitting a hard fairway surface. Repetitive stress from smaller shocks, however, is generally the reason. Moreover, it can come upon those who all of a sudden begin to play too much golf. As a case in point, if those that generally play golf once or twice a month decide to play in a tournament, they are likely at risk for contracting the injury.

Golf makes exclusive requests of our body. The game is usually longer than most other sports and that can cause fatigue. Unhealthy posture and lack of coordination are normally the signs of a fatigued body. This combination can cause an assortment of injuries. In addition, because of the continuous swinging of the golf clubs, the shoulder muscles are subject to injury. Just as it is crucial for you to stretch and warm up before you start your golf game, be sure to rest your body suitable between games.

An unexpected injury occasionally associated with golf is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. But, because it a condition that comes about due to repetitive stress, many games of golf played over several months continuously may cause this injury. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be a severe injury producing disability and occasionally needing surgery. However, if a health professional, such as your chiropractor, discovers it at an early stage, chiropractic management and, frequently, the use of a brace will alleviate the problem.

Injuries are assumed to be unavoidable part of life for most golfers. But, a healthy, mobile spine, good preparation, proper exercise and muscle conditioning, attaining and maintaining a an appropriate fitness level, and sensible rest and recuperation after your game is over, can help to make injuries a good deal less a part of your golfing experience.

Technorati Tags: back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, chiropractor, golfer's elbow, shoulder pain

Chiropractic Santa Barbara is concerned about all of your joints, including your elbow joints, and wants you to know about a new study that could help you to avoid elbow pain. We all know how “irritating” it can be when someone is talking loudly on a cell phone (as long as that person isn’t us!). Honestly, doesn’t it seem as if you can’t even take a quiet walk along the beach or in the park without someone walking by shouting into their cell phone? You could say, in fact, that nowadays the excessive use of cell phones has become a pain in our psyche. Well, the detrimental effects of excessive cell phone use apparently doesn’t stop with “pain in the brain.” A new report outlines the prevalence of “cell phone elbow,” an affliction in which users experience pain and numbness in their elbow due to extensive cell phone use. The idea is similar carpal tunnel syndrome, and the effect on the muscles and tendons concerned is essentially the same except a different nerve is pinched. Instead of being located in the wrist, cell phone elbow (“cubital tunnel syndrome”) cell phone elbow originates in the elbow region and results in pain or numbness in forearms, as well as tingling in pinkie and ring fingers. According to a study from the Cleveland Clinic, doctors are seeing more and more individuals experiencing these symptoms.

What exactly produces the problem? Holding a cell phone to the ear causes the elbow to bend, thereby stretching the nerve between muscles and tendons. When the arm is bent for long periods of time, the nerve gets inflamed. “Repetitive, sustained stretching of the nerve is like stepping on a garden hose,” said Dr. Peter J. Evans, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Hand and Upper Extremity Center. “With the hose, you’re blocking the flow of water. With the elbow, you’re blocking the blood flow to the nerve, which causes it to misfire and short circuit.” The first symptom of cell phone elbow is usually pain just below the elbow in the forearm. This is usually followed by the sensation of pins and needles in the pinkie and ring finger. In the most severe case those fingers can curl up and become difficult to use.

The good news is that the condition is easily preventable and treatable. Users are simply encouraged to avoid holding their phone in one position for too long in order to reduce the amount of strain on the affected muscles. For those who are already feeling strain, it is advisable to do simple stretches in order to help prevent some of the damage.

And, of course, a quiet walk in the park or along the beach with your cell phone turned off or, better yet, left behind, would not only go along way in reducing cell phone elbow, but it might do a lot to improve the health of your psyche as well!

This study was published in the May issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.

Technorati Tags: carpal tunnel syndrome, cell phone overuse, Cleveland Clinic, elbow