After having performed thousands of sports physicals over the years, I have seen an ever increasing trend in poor posture. Often, the posture is altered before a sport is undertaken, and frequently the posture is affected by repetitive motions of a particular sport.

You can simply perform an assessment of your own posture by having another person observe you from behind you (six feet directly behind you). Does one shoulder look higher than the other? Does one hip look higher? Check to see if your feet are straight, is one flaring out more than the other? The knees should be in alignment as well, facing the same direction. Your head should be equally balanced, not leaning to one side. If some differences are noticed, you may have a biomechanical problem that is inhibiting your sports performance.

I like to use the analogy of your car being out of alignment. If your car is misaligned, your tires will wear out unevenly, you will not get optimum fuel efficiency in your car, and it will not run like it should. The same principle applies to the human body. Do you believe that your body would be more or less susceptible to injury if you were a runner and you had one hip higher than the other, which caused one leg to be an inch shorter? Running day-after-day, mile-after-mile?

The body will respond to the misalignment with its innate ability to compensate for its differences and will adapt to the change. However, there is an insidious process, disease starts, and so the person will not have symptoms for many years before they experience other health issues. One of the most common conditions that occur is degenerate joint disease of the spine and pelvis. The fact of the matter is, if your biomechanics were in proper working order, you would be a better, more efficient runner.

One of the most common comments I hear when a new patient visits the office is “I can golf fine if I take two anti inflammatories or pain pills before I golf, but after I’m done I have a lot of pain”. Do you see the point that I am trying to make? If our bodies are giving us pain or it has restricted our range of motion in some way, it is trying to tell us that something is wrong. Like your car oil light coming on to warn you that the oil is low, do you turn the light off?

We often treat our automobiles better than our bodies. We can thank the pharmaceutical companies and medical profession for constant bombardment in radio, print, and television advertisements. Billions of dollars are spent yearly to convince you to take that little miracle pill or potion for fast relief. They advise us to get rid of that symptom quick, ignore what the cause is. We need to take responsibility for our own health. Listen to your body; no one knows it better than yourself.

A pre-exercise warm up is imperative, but often disregarded. Most people want to “get right into their workout” and therefore begin their exercise regime before their muscles and ligaments have warmed up sufficiently. Without this precaution, one pre-exposes themselves to abnormal strain on their ligaments and muscular system.

It is even more urgent that we take a serious look at this with the looming changes in our Healthcare System. The quality will not be as good. We should open our eyes, and look to the future. Say to yourself, what if 10, 20 or 30 years from now I have (fill in the blank). What could I have done to prevent that, should I have done this or that? The time for action is now!

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Dr. Gendron has been fixing golf injuries for more than 20 years, for more insights on preventing sports injuries, go to healsportsinjury.southwestfloridachiropractor.com now!

Like any sport, golf comes with its own specialized equipment, the most important of which are the golf clubs. A serious player of the game is going to want to own their own set of clubs. However, if you’re a new player, just beginning to learn the game, you won’t want to spend a large amount of money for a full set of clubs just yet. It is definitely important that you purchase your own clubs, both for practice and to improve your technique. Before you invest in a full set of golf clubs, which can be quite an investment indeed, you may want to avoid buying expensive clubs since at this point you only need to use them for learning and practice.

Since golf clubs are always evolving and enhancing in their technology, many of your mature and professional golfers end up giving their single golf clubs away for a brand new set that will help them to develop their game and minimize their handicap. Upon doing this, the golf industry becomes flooded with a ton of quality and unused sets of golf clubs that simply go to waste. This is why some golfing companies have created their own services to sell previously owned golf clubs at cheaper prices. These bargains can be found on various golf manufacturing websites around the world.

Not surprisingly, the optimum place to go looking for a bargain on pre-owned clubs is online. Using your computer, you can search for any type of club you desire. Price comparison, which is very important since costs can vary wildly from site to site, is simple to do over the Internet. It’s also easy to find reviews, examine photos, and locate all of the other information necessary to help you decide which clubs best suit your needs. And don’t forget to check out auction sites, including eBay, which may offer the best deal you’ll be able to find.

After you search through the internet, you may also want to look through your local newspaper or publication for any classified ads on pre-owned single golf clubs. Upon doing this, you can contact the person that is selling the clubs and ask if you can check out the condition of the club and do a few practice swings on it to see how it works. This will help you get a feel for the clubs before you buy them. Often times, people may try to offer you something that is really not worth the money, regardless of how cheap it is. This is a reason why it is important to try your golf clubs before you buy them.

A great place to check out is a local sporting goods or golf specialty store. Unlike “big box” stores and national chains, these local stores may have clubs that they’ve accepted as “trade-ins” from customers looking to upgrade their old club sets. As before, someone’s insistence on upgrading can be to your advantage, as you may be able to find quality pre-owned clubs at affordable prices. Some specialty stores may even have an indoor green or driving area, where you can test out the clubs before you purchase them, to make sure they are a good fit for you. Local driving ranges and golf course pro-shops are another place that might be good to look, for the same reasons.

And don’t forget to check with your friends, co-workers and relatives to see if they have any old clubs they’d be willing to part with. You may be able to get a great deal, or even a free club, from a close contact!

My best friend gave me a new golf club set for my birthday. Learn how he did it for dirt cheap.