Tiger Woods elbow injury and poor grip strength training on the PGA Tour

Poor grip and hand, wrist and elbow training on the PGA Tour will continue to lead to hand, wrist and elbow injuries. People familiar with that report on the PGA Tour should be aware of this hole in the pot. The fundamental concepts of hand and grip strength exercises are overlooked because traditional ‘grip only’ manual training has become organically accepted over the years.

When I was a junior golfer, I was also told to hold a tennis ball to strengthen my hands…bad advice!

The back of our hand, wrist and elbow house our band of ‘grip stabilizers’ muscles. Every time we grip something (think gym, practice, and game), these muscles contract to support the grip. Otherwise, the hand and fingers would collapse. It is a co-contraction, which means that the ‘hand opening’ muscles contract to support the action of the ‘hand closing’ muscles. We call this co-contraction GRIP! But either we don’t get it… or we don’t train our golfers the way we do.

The problem is that the muscles that open the hand (the grip stabilizers) are contracting in a static position again and again, thus building a static expansion band that’s SO easy to injure, especially under the stress of a golf shot… multiplied innumerably by high rough, more by wet rough, and more by rocks and tree roots…

So, hand, wrist and elbow imbalance is universal in golf and injury after injury will occur at an unnecessarily high rate… especially to the hand, wrist and elbow. It’s the same cause of the ‘path’ – hand muscle imbalance – not just tree roots!

Yes, golf is a contact sport for these areas, but if key structures are statically trained, resulting in inflexible muscle chains and poor blood flow, they have a VERY LOW chance of escaping injury, especially as the golfer gets old.

We have developed an easy and complete exercise that will solve this inherent imbalance in training and golf in ALL GOLFERS. I am a former professional golfer. I have seen the poor training first hand. I have worked with thousands of athletes and musicians. EVERYONE (everyone!) is strong in flexion, weak in extension. The same thing over and over again until we work with them. Shouldn’t this be a very obvious clue? We have many professional golfers who use our product and do very well.

But this imbalance isn’t just an injury problem for the older golfer. It is also a performance issue for all golfers. The stronger the stabilizing muscles of the grip, the stronger the hand force, the more the player can relax and still have control of the club, the better the player can negotiate in the rough with less risk of injury when necessary.

It is my hope that we can raise awareness among golfers and leading fitness and training professionals in the golf industry, especially former players. Now that Tiger Woods and John Daly are out with elbow injuries, the spotlight is on this issue more than ever. Mike Weir is another very notable golfer, Aaron Olberholser, Nice Price, Julie Inkster, Lanny Wadkins, Doug Tewell, etc. etc. etc… and the complete list that includes hand and wrist injuries is exhausting…

If you are a golfer, therapist, coach, or involved in any gripping activity, please understand that the muscles that open the hands are just as important as the muscles that close the hands in the performance of the grip, speed, strength, flexibility, endurance and the reduction of injuries. in the hand, wrist, carpal tunnel, and elbow.