McIlroy's Ankle Woes

Unfortunate news from Rory McIlroy's camp.  He has torn his ATFL, a ligament on the outside of his ankle, playing soccer with friends.  Depending on the extent of the injury, he will most likely spend the next several months rehabilitating his ankle to get it back into PGA shape.  Here is a look at the foot and ankle and the vital role it plays in the game of golf!

 

The feet and ankles play an extremely important part in not only the stability of the golfer during his/her swing, but also help turn on the other generators of torque higher up the chain (i.e. the hips and core).  During the back swing, the back foot needs to stay planted in order to allow the R gluteal to load, creating potential energy that will be converted to kinetic energy (power) during the downswing.  The front foot also needs to stay planted, but allow the ankle to flex so that we can get adequate hip turn.  If we lack the ankle flexion here, it may lead to insufficient hip loading and increased lower back stress, increasing our chance for lower back injury.  It can also lead to front knee collapse inward and a horde of problems (related to both health and performance) that come along with that movement. 

 

How do we keep our feet and ankles healthy and supple? 

 

Triplanar Calf Stretch

 

This stretch should help to create ankle flexion while moving through all 3 planes of movement that are going to be utilized during the golf swing. 

 

 

 

 

Case Example

Got a new client in the door the other day and I thought I would share some of the findings and our thought process.

Client is a 40 year old male with a 5 handicap.  He came in for work on flexibility, balance, and strength to hit the ball farther.

This is what his swing looks like at the top of his backswing:

Observations and Findings: 

1) Decreased control observed and mild weakness reported with left lower extremity lunges. 

2) Decreased control and balance on left lower extremity noted with balance tests.
3) Limited internal rotation motion left hip due to hip joint stiffness and tight hip muscles.
4) Tight and stiff left foot.

Assessment:

Decreased balance, strength and control of left lower extremity compromises stable foundation for backswing and ability to maximize load of muscles in lower extremity to maximize load of backswing for club speed, ball speed, power, distance, control and accuracy. Left lower extremity motion restrictions may be influencing upper half of body to compensate in backswing (overswing tendency).

Objective measures from Evaluation Session:

Ball Speed: 109.8 MPH

Carry Distance: 151.66 Yards

The client was given an exercise program which he performed for 1 week, underwent his first training session after 1 week of independent exercise, and then was measured again.

Ball Speed: 120.0 MPH

Carry Distance: 171.05 Yards

After 1 week, this client gained 10.2 MPH on his swing and 19.39 yards of carry distance!! Can you say incredible?

We will continue on and report as we go.

As always, hit 'em long, hit 'em straight, and optimize your body to optimize your game!

Why do some people hit the ball farther than others?

Here are the leaders in driving distance in 2014

RANK	LEADER	AVG.
1	Morgan Hoffmann	318.5
2	Brooks Koepka	317.3
3	Peter Uihlein	315.9
T4	Charlie Beljan	312.4
T4	Jimmy Walker	312.4
TOUR AVERAGE		290.0

Morgan Hoffman: 6'0", 180lbs

Brooks Koepka: 6'0", 186 lbs

Peter Uihlein: 6'1", 190 lbs

Charlie Beljan: 6'4", 215 lbs

Jimmy Walker: 6'2", 180lbs

Aside from Beljan, these are not huge guys.  

2014 Mr. Olympia Winners

Branch Warren: 5' 7", 250 lbs

Victor Martinez: 5' 9", 245 lbs

Fred Smalls: 5'7", 245 lbs

Shawn Rhoden: 5'10", 240 lbs

I see some stark differences in body type here.  The longest hitting golfers on tour are tall, slim guys.  But if they aren't powering the ball with muscle, then how do they do it?  Furthermore, how can we modify our training to help we normal people hit the ball as far as we can?  It seems fairly clear that training like a body builder is not the way to get long off the tee.

I believe one answer is FASCIA.  If you don't know what fascia is, don't worry.  Most folks don't.  Up until very recently, even scientists pretty much wrote fascia off as an inert covering of the more important muscular tissue and hacked it off in cadaveric dissections to get really clean looking musculature.

Fascia is a connective tissue made up of densely packed collagen fibers, water, and proteins that covers and invests inside all tissues.  Here is a really well written article about fascia and why it is important: http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/the-top-5-ways-fascia-matters-to-athletes

This can all be a bit dense.  So let's do something a bit more active.  Take your hand and place it on your chest.  Now without lifting your palm off of your chest, hit yourself as hard as you can with your index finger.  Now, use your other hand to pull your index finger back and then let it go and hit yourself with it.  Which one created more force?

Easy.  The second one.  By a huge margin.  You were able to create an audible thump!  Why is this?  Did we somehow develop a massively stronger index finger in 5 seconds?

No.  You were able to create more range of motion when you used your other hand to pull your finger back.  Force = mass x acceleration.  Acceleration = velocity/time.  More range of motion allowed for more change in velocity (increased acceleration), and thereby increased the amount of force produced.  This explains why being a muscle bound weight lifter would be detrimental to playing the game of golf well.

However!  The increase in range of motion was pretty dang small.  How do we account for the very large increase in force production?

The answer is:  we loaded our fascia.  By stretching the finger back, the fascia was stretched, creating potential energy.  We do this in the golf swing as we wind up into the back swing.  

If you watch a slow motion clip of a Tour Pro and you look closely, you can see the hips start the downswing while the hands are still loading up into the backswing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iH-GlpozSg

This stretches the fascia even further, creating an incredible amount of potential energy that is translated into acceleration and therefore massive amounts of force.  

Well how do I get ball mashing fascia?  We need to train the sensory receptors in our fascia, the proprioceptors.  Prioprioceptors basically tell the brain what is happening in the body.  If we train specific movements over time, the body creates motor patterns and can effortlessly repeat these patterns when called upon to do so.  How does Ray Charles play a piano he can't see?  He has rockin' proprioception.  His brain knows where the keys are in relation to his fingers: no sight necessary.  

This means we need to train specifically.  If we bench press or squat or curl or do rows, we aren't loading our fascia in a way that it will remember when we go to hit the ball.  We need to prepare and then repetitively load the fascia in a way that will translate to the golf swing.  
 
Here are some examples of Fascial Mobilization:

Fascial Mobilization

Having trouble with upper and lower body dissociation?  This exercise is a great way to mobilize your abdominal fascia and increase your spinal range of motion.

Place a firm ball under your torso to one side of your belly button.  Roll your abdominals over the ball, looking for tension 

Open up your lats and improve your torso rotation by rolling side to side on a foam roller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some fascial mobilization, now we need to create memory!

In half kneeling, reach across your chest to actively stimulate your fascia.

 

We can stabilize our upper body and drive our lower body to the left to create lower body acceleration.

 

As always, hit 'em long, hit 'em straight, and optimize your body to optimize your game!

Quick Hitter For Neck Pain And Hook Tendency

Written by: Dr. Benjamin D. Turner, PT, DPT, CSCS, FAFS, FMR, NG360 Golf Performance Specialist 

I had a client come in the other day with complaints of left neck pain during the backswing and problems missing left and occasionally hitting a hook.  He was going on a golfing trip and wanted some quick hitters that he could do to decrease his pain and increase his performance.

After an assessment, we found that his posterior (back) left shoulder soft tissue (muscle and connective tissue) and his upper trapezius (neck muscle) were restricted and limiting his left arm and neck from moving fully in the backswing.  Because this motion was limited, he began to unconsciously compensate by bending his left elbow, causing him to cast out during his down swing and the resulting pain and left ball flight tendency.

He has several other limitations including thoracic spine (mid-back) stiffness and shoulder joint malpositioning that are contributing to his mechanical flaws, but because he was looking for a quick improvement, we picked something that we felt we could make a change in quickly and easily.  Our hope was that it would decrease his pain and improve his performance for his upcoming golf adventure.

In order to improve his motion, we chose some easy exercises shown below that he could perform before, during, and after his trip to start producing a better, safer golf swing.

Hit the soft tissue around your shoulder blade with a lacrosse ball. This should allow your shoulder blade to move more freely when  you swing. 

Put the lacrosse ball into the thick muscle of your lower neck, upper back.  Then:

Lower your arm toward the ground slowly, keeping your elbow straight. Don't force it; use the motion you have available.   Return to the starting position and repeat. You should be able to slowly increase your motion. 

Hold on to a wall or a door frame with one hand. With your other hand, reach under your armpit to create a shoulder turn.  You can hold and stretch or reach and repeat.  You can perform this on both sides.

After creating more motion, you need to use it to create proper motor patterns. 

Squat and reach over your head. 

Squat and reach across your body. 

Squat and reach over your head (to the side). 

 

 

As always, work within your available resources and slowly increase your mobility as your body will comfortably allow. 

 

Hit 'em long, hit 'em straight, and transform your body to optimize your game!

Flying Right Elbow!

Written by: Dr. Benjamin D. Turner, PT, DPT, CSCS, FAFS, FMR, NG360 Golf Performance Specialist 

Middle aged male golfer came in to see me awhile back complaining of consistent problems hitting a “banana” slice.  His ball flight started out to the left and came all the way back across the fairway to the right, almost to the point of rolling perpendicular to the intended path.  

After assessment, we identified a clear problem.  He looked a lot like this:

 
 

 

It’s pretty obvious that something is going on with this guy’s right arm during the backswing.  From this position, the swing plane is going to be much too steep and while our golfer is working so hard to keep the clubface closed, the real problem is an outside in swing path, creating the banana slice.  

But why has he chosen to swing this way?  Excellent question!!

In the case of my client, we found that his right shoulder was very limited in the motion of external rotation.  
 

Because he could not achieve the above motion, his body chose to compensate by bringing the elbow away from the trunk into the funky position you see in the first picture.  

Well, how do we fix it?

We could concentrate really hard on trying to keep out elbow tight to our trunk, even pinching a headcover or glove there.  But does this fix our problem?  It’s inauthentic and may cause us to compensate elsewhere.  Ever feel like you are constantly fixing one issue, only to have another come popping up?  Perfect example.  

What we need to do is obvious:

 

1.) INCREASE THE SHOULDER EXTERNAL ROTATION!!  We need to do this in an authentic way

 

2.) Create motor memory so that when we hit the course, we don’t have to think about it.  It just happens naturally.

 

The deltoid is a common restrictor of external rotation.  Lets hit this piece with our lacrosse ball to free up the tissue.

 

Roll the ball through the deltoid tissue, hunting for the tight spots.  Tenderness is OK, sharp pains need to be avoided. 2 minutes.

 

Now lets perform a functional soft tissue mobilization. 

 

 

Start lying on your back with the lacrosse ball in the posterior shoulder musculature.  You can put the ball wherever you want, but we are looking for tight, sticky, restricted tissue here.

Allow your hand to drop back toward the ground.  Keep your elbow at a 90 degree bend!!  If you straighten your elbow, you are losing the position we are trying to mobilize.  You can also gradually bring your elbow closer to your body to put it closer to the position we are actually going to be using during our swing.  You know the drill: 2 minutes.

 

Now that we have mobilized our tissue, lets stretch it.

 

 

In the above starting position, keep the elbows together and spread the hands apart as far as comfortably possible.

 

 

Bring your body down, stretching the posterior (back) part of the shoulder.

Return to the starting position, then push your right hand out to the side.

 

Return to the starting position, then push your hands forward and down.  Spend 2 minutes performing this series of exercises.

Next, lets create a more authentic stretch.

Place your forearm against a door frame.  Keeping your elbow nice and tight to your body, step through the door and create a stretch.  You can turn your body away from your hand, shift your pelvis in different directions, and really do whatever you want to create more motion in this position.  2 minutes.

Lastly, lets create a movement pattern that we will use during our golf game.

 

Starting in the above position, rotate your trunk to the right, keeping your elbow flexed and tight to the trunk.  Perform 10-20x.

 

BOOM!  Freed up right shoulder external rotation.  Obviously, I did not start with a large limitation here, but this is somewhat close to the desired result.  Notice how this allows me to turn my body better as well as load up the right hip more.  Not only will this create more power, but also more consistency because the club stays on plane.  

 

 

AFTER:                                                            BEFORE:

     

 

This mobility program should make it much easier for the golfer to avoid many of the common pitfalls associated with a flying right elbow.

As always, hit 'em long, hit 'em straight, and transform your body to optimize your game!

Fuel for the Golf Fitness Industry from the Pros

We love this video!! Straight from the professionals' mouths that a good fitness program can make the difference between frustration and success.  One thing we would like to see more of is flexibility and mobility training in this clip.  There are many examples of strength and endurance training, but what about the incredible amounts of mobility required to play golf?  Maybe more posts from us are required ;)