Lower back twinges on the back nine: a 3-minute mid-round reset
A tight, hot band across the low back around hole 12 is usually accumulated load. Three movements you can do against the cart, about 3 minutes total, plus the signs that mean stop playing and the one that means go to the ER.
A dull, tight, hot band across the low back around hole 12 is most often accumulated load: 40-odd full swings, a couple of hours in a cart seat, and one side of your body working harder than the other since the first tee. That's our coaching read, and the red-flag list below covers the cases where it's wrong. The fix for the dull version is to give the joints above and below the sore spot, the hips and the mid-back, something to do. Three movements against the cart, about 3 minutes, once at the turn and once around hole 12.
Why it shows up around hole 12
The low back is the most injured area in golf. McHardy, Pollard and Luo followed 588 Australian amateur golfers for a year (American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2007) and found the lower back accounted for 18.3 percent of all golf injuries, more than any other site. There were about 16 injuries per 100 golfers that year.
The swing loads the lumbar spine asymmetrically every rep. Stack 40 swings on top of a couple of hours of sitting in a cart with your hips flexed, and the hips and thoracic spine get stiff. When they stop rotating, the lumbar spine picks up the rotation they dropped.
Vad and colleagues (2004) found a matching pattern in 42 male professionals: golfers with a low back pain history had less lead hip internal rotation and less lumbar extension than those without. Correlation, not proof, but it points the same way as the coaching experience.
The three movements
Do these in order. Hands on the cart for balance. None of them should hurt.
- Cat-cow with hands on the seat. Hands on the cart seat, then walk your feet back until your torso is roughly parallel to the ground. Round your spine up toward the sky as you exhale, then let it sag and lift your chest as you inhale. 10 slow reps. This moves the whole spine through flexion and extension without loading it.
- Slow side bend, each direction. Feet wide, one hand on the cart. Reach the free arm overhead and bend away from it until you feel the side of your torso open. Hold for 3 slow breaths. Switch. This decompresses the side that's been doing all the work.
- Standing hip airplane against the cart. Hands on the cart roof or door frame. Stand on one leg, hinge forward a little, and let the other leg drift back. If balance is shaky, keep the back toe on the ground. Now rotate the standing hip open (knee and chest turn away from the cart) and closed (turn toward it). Slow. 5 each direction, then switch legs. This wakes up the hip rotation the back has been covering for.
Total time is about 3 minutes. Do it at the turn before the twinge shows up, and again around hole 12. On a walking round, do it at any tee box with a bench.
When to stop playing
This reset is for the dull, tight, hot-band feeling. It is not for:
- sharp pain that came on with one swing
- pain that shoots down a leg
- numbness or tingling in a leg or foot
- pain that's getting worse hole over hole despite the reset
Any of those, and the round is over. See a physio or doctor before the next one. If you lose control of your bladder or bowels, or feel numbness around the groin or inner thighs, that's an emergency: go to the ER, not the physio. FitCaddie is educational, not medical.
The longer fix
If this happens most rounds, the hips and mid-back are what to work on during the week. Two drills:
- The 90/90 hip switch, done correctly for hip rotation
- The open book for thoracic rotation
Plus a real warm-up before the first tee. Fradkin, Finch and Sherman (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2001) observed 1,040 amateur golfers at courses and a driving range. Just under half swung a club in the air a few times. Most of the rest did nothing. Fewer than 3 percent, in the researchers' judgment, warmed up adequately.
What to do tomorrow
Practice the three movements at home tonight so they're automatic on the course. Then run the reset at the turn on your next round, before anything hurts.
FitCaddie's Less Pain & Mobility program is built for exactly this pattern: daily hip and thoracic work, pre-round looseners, and a "this hurts" swap on every move.
Sources
- McHardy A, Pollard H, Luo K. One-year follow-up study on golf injuries in Australian amateur golfers. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2007;35(8):1354-1360. doi:10.1177/0363546507300188
- Vad VB, Bhat AL, Basrai D, Gebeh A, Aspergren DD, Andrews JR. Low back pain in professional golfers: the role of associated hip and low back range-of-motion deficits. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2004;32(2):494-497. doi:10.1177/0363546503261729
- Fradkin AJ, Finch CF, Sherman CA. Warm up practices of golfers: are they adequate? British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2001;35(2):125-127. doi:10.1136/bjsm.35.2.125
Questions golfers ask
Why does my lower back hurt on the back nine but not the front?
Load adds up. By hole 12 you've made something like 40 full swings, sat in a cart between most of them, and rotated hard in one direction every time. Tissue that felt fine on the first tee is now stiff and irritated, and stiff hips and mid-back push the work onto the lumbar spine.
Should I stretch my lower back when it hurts during golf?
Stretching the sore spot itself rarely helps in our experience. The spot is overworked. Moving the joints above and below it, the hips and thoracic spine, takes load off the back. If pain is sharp, radiating down a leg, or comes with numbness, stop playing.
Is low back pain common in golfers?
Yes. In McHardy, Pollard and Luo's one-year study of 588 Australian amateur golfers (2007), the lower back was the most common injury site at 18.3 percent of all golf injuries, and about 16 injuries occurred per 100 golfers that year.
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