By Elizabeth Cloutman
Muscle strength and flexibility may improve golf swing and prevent injuries
Long, sunny summer days mean more opportunities to enjoy golfing. Unfortunately, it can also mean golfers, particularly beginners with inconsistent swings, have a greater risk of joint and muscle injuries - especially in the hips and lower back.
Personal fitness trainer Dee Stauffer, who owns the the Integrative Health Studio in Sunnyvale, believes the Pilates method can enhance a golfer’s ability to develop a more flexible and fluid golf swing. By increasing the strength and flexibility of trunk muscles, he said, Pilates helps a golfer improve his or her ability to stay on a swing plane, increase stamina, and keep the spine angle constant during swing without suffering back and hip pain, he said.
Stauffer explained that more than 50 percent of golfers have chronic lower-back and hip pain. In amateurs, this occurs because they haven’t learned to swing efficiently. “In my opinion, swing faults are caused by physical limitations,” Stauffer said. “These limitations cause injury.”
An unstable swing can be physically tiring, he noted. “After you’ve walked five or six miles on a course, you get tired by the 16th hole. Your chips are going to be flying all over the place.”
The Pilates method focuses on the core muscles of the trunk, those we use when we move, walk, sit, stand - and play golf .
These muscles “move our skeletal system,” Stauffer said. “In order to move effectively, we need strong and flexible core muscles for stabilization of the joints. A more consistant swing results from moving from your core.”
Stauffer has played golf since he was a small boy accompanying his father on the course. He also played on his high school team. Pilates was a much later discovery.
When Stauffer was seriously injured in a mountain bicycle accident that required hospitalization, a friend came to visit him at the Stanford Medical Center and brought along someone who taught Pilates. When Stauffer had recovered from the accident, he decided to take up Pilates himself. He was so impressed by the results, he became an instructor certified through the Physical Mind Institute.
Joseph Pilates invented Pilates about 70 years ago, calling it contrology. Its movements are similar to yoga. Like yoga, it has achieved a resurgence in popularity because of its effectiveness in improving muscle strength and flexibility.
A lot of Pilates work involves working on what Stauffer calls antagonistic muscles, which must work together to stabilize the body core.
Learning to do the Pilates method requires hands-on instruction, Stauffer said. “You can’t learn this from a book, There is a lot of detail.”
Stauffer added that, like yoga, Pilates involves making a connection between the mind and body.
Lessons are individualized, he said. “I try to find out what each person’s limitations are.”
The Pilates method won’t interfere with taking lessons from a golf pro, Stauffer said. However, the golfer should let his or her golf pro know about taking Pilates classes.
Stauffer has noticed that since he’s learned and now teaches Pilates, his stamina on the golf course has improved considerably.
To contact Stauffer, call (408) 737-2031 or e-mail him at deest108@aol.com.
