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How much do you think you are in a sitting position each day? Likely more than you think. Consider this typical scenario: You wake up and if time allows, you sit down to drink a cup of coffee. You then embark on a 15-minute drive to work. This is likely followed by sitting at your desk for the better part of 8 hours. You then make that same 15-minute drive home. For the majority of your evening, between eating dinner and watching your favorite TV show, you are also sitting. Finally, you sleep for 8 more hours and likely lie on your side with your hips and knees flexed which is essentially a sitting position. Basically, the average person is in a sitting position for more than 20 hours a day. Even if you get up every 30 minutes at work, exercise for 1 hour, or play a round of golf you still spend the majority of your life in this flexed position.

This position with the hips and knees flexed, rounded shoulders, forward head and flexed spine are terrible for your golf game. Not only does it limit your movement, but the muscles opposite those that become tight will now become weak. On top of that, if we are being honest, we typically go straight from work and show up for our tee time with 5 minutes to spare. So we go from sitting for 8 hours making muscles tight and weak to suddenly trying to complete a golf swing that requires significant rotational movement and strength at all joints of the body. Obviously, nobody will go change their job so they can win their weekly golf league, but I strongly encourage you to perform a 5-10 minute routine each day and before your next round of golf that is designed to reverse the effects of a sitting and flexed posture. 

Here are some examples of exercises that will accomplish this. This will not only improve your ability to rotate and swing a golf club, but will also reduce your risk of developing back, shoulder, or hip pain associated with this type of movement.

Single Leg Bridge
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Lying flat on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the ground, and knees and feet together. Pull your right knee up to your chest holding your right shin. From here, lift your hips up off the ground using your left glute. Try to maintain a stable pelvis and focus on firing the glute and minimizing the hamstring involvement.  Hold for a prescribed duration and repeat back and forth. Repeat on the other leg.

Overhead Club Press Turns

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Take your normal five iron posture, hold each end of the club and lift the club up above your head. Now try to make a normal backswing turn but keep the club as high as possible. 

Open Book

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Lie on your side with your knees bent and your hands extended out in front of you. Keeping your knees in contact with the ground, try to rotate your top arm all the way around your body like the hand of a clock. Try to touch your forearm to the ground, keeping your arm at chest level. Return and repeat on both sides.

Reverse Snow Angels

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Lie on the stomach. Put hands behind your head. Lift elbows up, reach hands forward with arms still above head height. Keep arms above the ground and slowly move them from over your head down to your side as you slowly rotate so that your thumbs are down. Keep moving arms until you can reach you can get the back up your hands as far up your back as possible. Focus on keeping your shoulder blades pinches together.

 

Adam Halseth is a Titleist Performance Institute Medical Level 3 certified physical therapist at the Orthopedic Institute in Sioux Falls, SD. He has worked extensively with professional and amateur golfers. He collaborates with some of the top golf medical professionals in the nation including those on the LPGA and PGA tours. He performs comprehensive assessments designed to find physical limitations in strength and mobility and correlates this with a detailed swing analysis to determine the optimal program for the golfer to maximize benefits.

Email Adam at ahalseth@ortho-i.com for more information on the Orthopedic Institute Golf Medicine Program. Schedule an appointment by calling (605) 977-6845.

Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @adamhalseth.

 

Orthopedic Institute has physical therapists that specialize in various areas to meet your orthopedic and sports medicine needs. This includes sports medicine conditions, general orthopedic, blood flow restriction, spine conditions and aquatic therapy.

You can visit the OI Golf Medicine Program page for more information. (CLICK HERE).

Comment below for your chance at winning a free assessment from Adam! Drawing happens on July 4, 2018. 

 

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