Finding a golf fitness trainer

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post:…

Indeed, there are a total of five separate movements and six stability patterns
going on simultaneously in a golf swing, says Larry Carter, PT, TPI CGFI Level 3,
owner of Body Balance for Performance in Covina, Calif, one of a franchise of 47
golf-specific PT clinics focusing on performance enhancement and injury.

“The feet, knees, lower back, scapulothoracic area, elbow, and cervical spine
have to be stable, [whereas] the ankles, hips, thoracic spine, shoulder, and wrist
need to be mobile,” Carter says. “You have to look at both static and dynamic
posture.”

Only after those movements are observed and analyzed by a trained PT can a
new direction be prescribed for improved performance and injury prevention, he
says, explaining, “We have to identify needs. Take glaring unsequenced
patterns, and look at ways to achieve normal patterns of mobility and stability.”
Hitting the links

Fortunately for therapists, there is a growing body of physical therapy knowledge as it relates specifically to playing golf. This wellspring of fresh information comes in part from professional golfers adding personal fitness to their regimen, a departure from professional players in earlier times who avoided any specific exercises, says Adrian Carvalho, MPT, CSCS, MDT, of Golden Gate Physical Therapy in San Francisco.

Carvalho has served as physical therapist for the PGA tournament at Pebble Beach.
“Tiger Woods is leading the pack with his fitness routine and having a physical
therapist and personal trainer on staff,” he says. “Players are noticing [that] to
stay in the game and be competitive, they have to be in better shape.”

This article is adapted from Today in PT, written by Teresa McUsic. She is a medical writer for the Gannett HealthCare Group. To comment on this story, send e-mail to pteditor@gannetthg.com.

Have a great game.

Steve McMurray MPT
www.ezgolfrx.com