Lifestyle Physiotherapy

Cronulla Physiotherapist

Call (02) 8544 8484

Stiff low-back during or after your surf?

We’ve all been there, especially this time of year when the swell and winds are favourable but the air and water temperature not so much!

When it’s cold, our muscles and ligaments around our joints become less flexible which is an incredibly common cause of a stiff and sore lower back. We can try and mitigate this (besides a good, warm wetsuit!) with some low-back mobility exercises before and/or after your surf. Try out the stretches below as a start, however if you have lingering pain you should be assessed by a professional ASAP before it causes you to miss out on the sport you love. [Read more…]

Golfing pain.

Shout-out to all the golfers out there. Chances are like most who play this game, you’re probably more often than not frustrated after your round rather than ecstatic about the flawless golf you just played (hence the 19th hole.

 

What we hate to see is frustration after a game not because of the shots you left out there, but because of pain. Lower back, shoulders, elbow and/or neck pain can all contribute to a miserable round!

 

There are many reasons that we may experience pain during swing, but often there is a common culprit… a stiff thoracic spine (upper back). A golf swing is a combination of our knees, hips, spine, shoulders and wrist working together to create a coordinated torque (or rotation) to swing the club, and a big portion of this is through rotation of our thoracic spine.

 

Let’s use the chain of a swing as an analogy- every link on a swing chain has a portion of movement required of it to globally move the swing. Imagine that we shrink-wrap or stiffen a big portion of the middle of the chain. The swing chair will still move when pushed, but the movement will become a lot jerkier, and the links of chain directly above and below the shrink-wrap will end up contributing a lot more hinge than originally required.

 

Imagine the shrink-wrapped chain is our stiff thoracic spine, and the links above are our neck and shoulders- we still generally achieve a full swing, but what will the quality of movement be like? And where is the extra movement coming from?

 

Most likely the excessive movement will come from our shoulders, neck and potentially our lumbar spine (low-back). So, for pain experienced in any of these areas during a golf swing, it is imperative that we first look at thoracic spine mobility. It’s incredible the difference we can make with a few simple stretches and mobility drills!

 

If you are experiencing pain during your round of golf give us a call on 8544 8484 to book in for an assessment, maybe you’ll even find a few more metres on your drive!

 

In the meantime, have a look at these simple thoracic mobility exercises you can give a go at home…

 

http://www.lifestylephysiocronulla.com.au/2019/06/magic-thoracic-spine/#more-1893

Thoracic Spine Pain

Pain and injury in the middle of your back (your thorax) is less common than pain in your neck (because of the significant mobility up here) or your lower back (because of the significant load this area supports). But when pain does occur, it can be extremely uncomfortable. Why?

 

 

Here is a joint from the middle of your thoracic spine, we are looking down on it. It has attachments to the joint above and below, but also to ribs on either side. Along the front of the vertebrae a bundle of blood vessels runs, inside your chest cavity. At each level a vein an artery and a nerve split from the main vessel to innervate or supply blood to the muscles between your ribs.

[Read more…]

Spine pain. Where is it? What is it?

Spinal pain is one of the most common complaints we see in the clinic. Unfortunately it is very badly understood and the fear associated with it significant.

There are many sources of pain in the spine.

Bone. Pain can develop due to boney stress, load or fracture. The most commonly seen sights of pain caused by bone are the facet joints.

[Read more…]

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Mon: 2:00am - 7:00pm
Tue: 8:00am - 8:00pm
Wed: 8:00am - 7:00pm
Thur: 8:00am - 7:00pm
Fri: 8:00am - 1:00pm
Sat: 8:00am - 12:00pm

Contact us

Phone: (02) 8544 8484
Email: lauren@lifestylephysiocronulla.com.au
Address: 14/17 Surf Road Cronulla, NSW 2230