Golf

From a biomechanical perspective, the golf swing is an interesting movement that is characterised by complex inter-segmental coordination patterns, precisely timed muscle activations and high mechanical loads. Traditionally, scientists and coaches have sub-divided the golf swing into a number of distinct phases to facilitate the detailed analysis of the mechanics and/or injury risks associated with the movement. Although numerous methods are used in the literature, one of the simplest methods is to divide the performance into four components that include: i) address; ii) backswing; iii) downswing; and iv) follow-through. Given that the address phase represents the period during which golfers physically and mentally prepare themselves to perform the action, movements are generally limited to those related to the player’s pre-shot routine. The rapid and asymmetric motion of the arms, shoulders, trunk and pelvis during the backswing, downswing and follow-through are of particular interest to biomechanists, as they are known to be important to performance, injury risk or both. Of the problems experienced by golfers, injuries to the lower back, shoulder and elbow are the most common and account for about 36, 13.5 and 11.7 per cent of golf-related injuries, respectively.