Golfers, Do you have Low Back Pain.. are your glutes the problem?

Low Back Pain can be caused by many different types of problems, including sciatica, a pinched nerve, bulging disc, herniated disc, overuse, weak core muscles, and more. Many golfers have weak glutes, which can contribute to low back pain.

There are ways to help improve these imbalances in the body with exercises that strengthen the back, glutes, and core.

Below are some of the exercises we went over at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country last week during our Body Talk on low back pain, its causes, and how to strengthen imbalances within the body.

Warming Up Before Golf

Make sure to emphasize shoulders, torso, hips, and hamstrings:

1. With your longest golf club, hold it behind your neck and rotate the torso.

2. To stretch the hips, pull the knee to the chest and circle that knee around a few times.

3. Stretch the hamstrings by rolling down and seeing how close to the ground you can get the club, or try to touch your toes.

4. Start by gently swinging the club.

Exercises

Exercise #1: Dead BugLying on your back with your back flush to the ground and head down, bend your knees up and in. Keep your hips off the ground for 30-second increments, or work up to that.

Exercise #2: BridgePress your heels into the ground, bridge your pelvis up, then bring your right knee into your chest and hold for 20 seconds on each leg. Keep digging your heels into the ground, toes up. Squeeze your glutes and keep abs engaged.

Exercise #3: Bridge with Leg ExtensionSame as the previous exercise, but as you bridge up and down, extend your right leg straight out while keeping it on the same plane as your body. Heels remain digging into the ground.

Exercise #4 & #5: The Hover and Add-

Ons

1. Begin in the hover position: elbows slightly wider than the shoulders, forearms flat on the mat, abs engaged (or a small pelvic curl to protect the back), legs extended straight back, toes curled under. Hold for 30 seconds.

2. Add a salute: lift your right arm and hold for 5 seconds, then switch to the left. Do not rotate the body; only the arm moves.

3. Hover to push-up and back down again.

Exercise #6: Ball Circles with ForearmsFind your hover or balance position on a stability ball, resting your forearms toward the top of the ball. Abs engaged, gently circle 10 times with just the forearms from the shoulders, maintaining a stable body.

Exercise #7: Cable HoldKneel on a mat near the cable machine. Hold the cable out in front of you with both hands. Keep hip flexors open, thighs long, abs engaged, shoulders down, and arms extended in front of you. Hold for 30–60 seconds, then switch sides.