Golf and Pilates

When you practice Pilates alongside your golf practice it can help decrease your chances of injury and improve sports performance.

Being able to properly swing a club and also have the necessary range of motion, strength and neuromuscular control to allow your body to execute the swing is the key to a successful golfing experience.

Having a consistent golf swing with good form is a difficult task because of the complexity of its biomechanics. Here is an overview of the golf swing:

• The spine is subject to a very rapid and complex loading pattern.
  • In less than a couple of seconds, the spine and extremities are taken to their end ranges of motion, making the extensibility of soft tissues dictate the path of the swing.
  • Lacking flexibility in the mid-back and hips may cause the lumbar spine to bend and rotate in ways that increase spinal stress.

• The golf swing also involves a combination of non-functional movement patterns and rotational movements around multiple axes.
  • Since these are not typical motions, i.e. the head moves opposite the body through most of the swing, there are different neuromuscular firing patterns that must occur.
  • Individuals may be prone to upper body injuries if they don’t possess the strength to control their flexibility in these atypical positions.

Regardless of age, gender, or experience, muscle strength and flexibility imbalances can impair one’s ability to play effectively.

Many swing faults are the result of lacking range of motion or motor control in a few key areas. Below are some suggestions that can be incorporated into a progressive Pilates programme:

Spine Range of Motion and Control:

• Optimal spinal mobility at all levels is critical since limitations at one area will increase compressional forces on another. This is particularly important during the end ranges of the swing when control of the upper back and rotation need to be maximal.
• The pelvis should also stay relatively still and in neutral throughout the swing to allow the body to rotate around a neutral spine axis.

Hip Range of Motion and Control:

• Good hip range of motion, particularly hip internal rotation and hip extension, is very important.
• A tight iliotibial band combined with weak hip abductors can be a culprit for many swing faults. What is often overlooked is the importance of also working on hip and lower extremity control in weight-bearing positions.

Cervical Mobility and Scapular Control:

• Integrating postural exercises is necessary for any sport, but with golf, the added complexity of the head moving in an opposite direction of the arms and thoracic spine makes it critical.
• Also, the potential for repetitive upper extremity injuries exists if the golfer doesn’t have good scapular control.

Pilates for Every Body

One of the first questions I often get asked from someone who wants to start Pilates is “Will I be the oldest?”

I have to admit I do give a little chuckle, as I teach in a retirement home where the AVERAGE age is 96!

So the usual answer is “NO!”

Pilates moves can benefit a wide range of ages and fitness levels, so it really is suitable for Every Body.

Naturally, adaptations and modifications might be required to make the moves safe and effective – something that comes as second nature at Experience Pilates.

Joseph Pilates talks about the true ages of the spine is not measured in years, or how old you feel, but by the flexibility of a persons spine.  You could be a 30 year person with a spine as stiff as a plank of wood with achy muscles and creaky joints.  Alternately you could be an active 70 year old who is still able to twist and bend without any aches an pains.

However, the latter is usually true with our modern lifestyles.  We spend so much time sitting (at a desk or behind the wheel of a car) and less time being active – walking, gardening and being physically active.  It is only when we get the aches and pains that we decide to do something about them.. However many times have you thought about your dodgy knees or occasional (yet very painful) sciatica?

The onset of aches and pains is usually down to faulty postures patterns,which have taken their toll over the preceding years.  relieving, or better still, getting rid of these aces an pains can be achieved with regular practice of selected Pilates movements.  There is no age barrier to starting Pilates, in fact, many GP’s and other Health Care professionals recommend Pilates as a course of action.

Your Pilates exercises will stand you in good stead when practiced little and often; small movements outlined in the previous email ‘Putting Pilates into your busy day”  are usually all it takes to help your body.  With Pilates you are in control of how much you do and when.

You don’t need:

• to lie down – we stand and sit more often than not, so practice in these positions and you will become stronger when moving generally
• have a mat – you don’t need to lie down!
• buy fancy equipment – yes, you can, but all the moves are perfect with or without equipment
• to splash out on skin hugging Lycra (mmm the 1980′s have gone – leave them there!!)
• wear a headband – you won’t be sweating buckets with these simple moves

More often tan not, all you need are three things:

• YOU
• YOUR BREATH
• A CHAIR

Whether you practice Pilates at home, privately with a Specialist or in small groups, Pilates can really help keep you feeling young and healthy!

Putting Pilates into your busy day

Put Pilates in your day!

Why not try and fit Pilates into your everyday routine?

Below are ideas on how to do that, with suggestions of where (but of course, you need to make sure that it fits into YOUR day – the more you practice, the better you get!!

Shoulder Blade Stability – Uncle Fester

Sitting at your desk, PC, in your car, walking…

• Keep the distance between your ear lobe and your shoulders long.
• Gently press the shoulder blades down and slightly together.
• Maintain this position for as long as possible.

Head and Neck Placement – Skull rocks

Sitting at your desk, PC, in your car…

• Gently draw the chin in slightly and down, feelling the length of the neck.
• Relax the front neck muscles (Deidrie Barlow muscles!)
• Maintain this position for as long as possible.

Pelvic Placement – Rude Triangle

Sitting at your desk, PC, in your car, walking…

• Easy to do in sitting!
• Find the ‘sit bones’ under your bottom.
• Sit tall and long, keeping your feet on the floor for optimal positioning.
• Maintain this position for as long as possible.

Abdominal Hollowing – Hipbone squeezes

Sitting at your desk, PC, in your car, walking…

• Once the pelvis in position (an in neutral) we need to anchor the bones into position…
• Gently squeeze your abdominal muscles, trying to draw your hipbones together.

Try and include these moves in your daily life – your body will thank you!

Relax! It’s only breathing!

Simple breathing to help you keep calm and carry on!

Physiological response

When we are stressed or in pain the body prepares us for action by flooding our blood stream with adrenaline and noradrenalin (the ‘stress response’). Stress and its management is a very big topic, but suffice to say that we are often affected by stress and thus place more requirements on the body.  One of the signs of stress is that our breathing gets faster and shallower – it is also the one physiological aspect of stress that we can control.

Once a stressful situation over often the first thing we do is taking a huge sigh of relief. This causes the body to release another chemical called acetylcholine that signals to the body that it is time to relax.

We can consciously mimic this reaction by learning a simple breathing technique called diaphragmatic breathing. It is easy to do and once learnt is can be done anywhere. It is an easy technique, but does need some practice.

How to do it…

To give your diaphragm plenty of room to move, it is better to practice this technique lying down on your back or side, but whichever position you feel most comfortable with.  Use pillows and cushions to make yourself comfortable and supported.

The sequence: 

• Place once hand on your upper chest and one on your stomach, just below our ribs.
• Breathe in through your mouth or nose; allow your stomach to rise.
• Pause for a moment.
• Slowly and evenly breathe out, feeling your stomach sinking. To slow the out breath right down, breathe through your slightly parted lips as if you were breathing out through a fine drinking straw.
• Aim for the out-breath being longer than the in-breath.
• Pause for a moment or two before you take the next breath in.

Breathing Tips…

• Imagine the air by-passing your chest going down to your tummy.
• Your chest should stay fairly still.
• Keep the movement gentle.
• Relaxed breathing doesn’t mean deep breathing – let yourself breathe at your natural pace and frequency.
• Keep breathing at a pace that feels natural to you.

Find 5-10 mins daily to practice this way of breathing.

When you feel you’ve got it, try it anytime there is a natural pause in your day, e.g., when you are waiting for the kettle to boil.

Try it when you feel you are getting stressed and notice the effect you will feel.

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