THE FIRST BOOK OF ITS KIND off ering the program developed by Dr. Jaff e at Kaiser Permanente’s Low Back Pain Clinic in San Diego to tone and treat low back muscles stressed by golf. Describing the causes, necessary testing, proper posture control, and various medical treatments for low back pain, this book helps you take control and win back your golf game! Th e Functional training and core strengthening exercises taught in this book not only treat and prevent low back pain but also help improve your swing and athletic abilities. Th rough step-by-step instructions with detailed photographs, you will learn exercises for the home or gym, stretches on the tee, and proper technique for improving your swing--a winning combination for improving your game and life.

PLAY GOLF FOREVER

Treating Low Back Pain & Improving Your Golf Swing Through FitnessBy Michael Jaffe Brian Tarcy Ron Brizzie

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010Michael Jaffe
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-8831-3

Contents

Introduction.......................................................................ixPART I: THE BACK...................................................................11 Understanding Lower Back Pain....................................................32 Deciding to See a Doctor.........................................................173 Finding the Right Treatment......................................................25PART II: THE GAME OF GOLF..........................................................374 Examining Why Golfers Get Lower Back Pain........................................395 Analyzing the Golf Swing in Pieces...............................................51PART III: THE PROGRAM..............................................................716 Examining How Muscles and Nerves Work............................................737 Back Basics: Posture and Body Mechanics..........................................798 Get Ready: Getting Started and Finding the Correct Equipment.....................919 Using Functional Training to Change Your Life....................................10110 Using Functional Training to Change Your Life: Low Impact.......................13911 Stretching on the First Tee.....................................................15112 Conclusion: Motion Is Life......................................................163Bibliography.......................................................................169Glossary...........................................................................173Index..............................................................................181

Chapter One

Understanding Low Back Pain (LBP)

When I first met Julia in my office, her obvious athleticism contrasted with her chronic low back pain (LBP).

It seemed wrong. She was in great shape. Everyone gets occasional LBP, but Julia's developed into a chronic condition that had lasted for years by the time she came to see me. A "back specialist" diagnosed her with bulging and degenerative disks and told her to limit her activities.

Initially, Julia's back pain appeared only when she engaged in physical activity. But when she limited her activities, her problems worsened. She became sedentary, gained 15 pounds, and suffered continuous pain. Her job as a pathologist required that she sit at a microscope for nine hours each day, making the situation worse. Plus, the rest she was prescribed compounded her problem.

When Julia learned the core-strengthening program taught in this book and put it to use, her pain finally began to subside. It took time-six weeks of squat exercises-but by the time I saw her again, she had already lost five pounds and felt much better.

Julia's case proved again to me what I already knew-that there are many types of back pain, and even those who are in great shape can get LBP. Being in shape and having your core muscles in shape are sometimes different things.

Seeing Health

We express ourselves with our bones and our muscles. We don't express ourselves through our internal organs. You don't often hear someone say, "You have a nice spleen."

We express ourselves through motion.

Eighty-five percent of the neurological and sensory input that goes from your body to your brain comes from your musculoskeletal system of bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. Only 15 percent come from your internal organs.

This expression of motion comes across to others in little ways and big ways all the time in your life. When you challenge yourself, such as on a golf course, the expression is exaggerated.

The way you move says a lot about you.

Think about it. When a healthy person walks into a room, you can tell the difference immediately between that person and one who is out of shape. Being able to execute movements with optimum speed, precision, style, and grace is an attractive trait. The person who walks into a room with their head held up has style. You can see it, as opposed to the person who is schlubby and withdrawn. You notice the difference, and it sends you a huge message.

You can pick out an athlete because of the way they move and their pure confidence of movement.

And you can train yourself to be an athlete. You can train your core muscles to give you strength and grace in your whole body. Although the body can be trained to do many different things, including swing a golf club, almost all athleticism has a centerpiece: the spine and its movements.

Your back is one of the most amazing creations in the natural world, and all athleticism flows off of it. So, like Julia, at the beginning of this chapter, if you take care of training for your particular sport but ignore the core muscle group that allows you to do anything, you can, over time, run into trouble.

If you are going to train for golf, the core muscle group supporting your lower back is where it all starts. This beautiful system of bones, muscles, ligaments, and joints is susceptible to problems that can be avoided by means of a strengthening program.

Taking care of your back and the muscles supporting it will help protect you from having pain, and it will improve your back if you do have pain.

Of course, as common as LBP is, not all LBP is the same. The back is a complex structure with many moving parts. So before treating your pain, you must first understand how the back works when you aren't suffering from pain.

The Neuromuscular System

The human body inspires awe.

And the back as a unit, performing its many functions, is a wonder within the miracle body. The spine and its supporting muscles and tendons serve as a highway and interchange for nerves that bring the feel of life to all parts of your body.

When your back does things, you almost never consciously think about it. But if you think about it now, that's pretty amazing.

You have a huge instrument running through the center of your torso, and it performs seemingly all on its own. It is able to do things reflexively, instantaneously, without you ever having to tell it how. It just knows.

Amazing.

The Big Picture

The brain does not recognize individual muscles.

It recognizes patterns of movements-movements that are, in a sense, programmed by you over time. A pattern of movement involves individual muscles working in harmony to produce movement.

But the muscles don't work alone to produce movement from your back. The back is a complex, amazing instrument capable of producing big movements with a combination of power and flexibility. But what is really happening is rather intricate.

It starts with your spinal cord, of course, because that delivers life. But the back is more than just the cord of nerves running up to your brain. There's a lot more to it than a simple straight line. The back carries the signals that shoot to nerves and on to muscles that make movement possible. The complex machinery includes the following parts:

The cord itself is encased in bones (vertebrae). The vertebrae rest on discs, which cushion the bones. Inside the discs is a jelly-like material. The back part of your vertebrae have smaller bones, connected by tiny facet joints. These...