It’s that time of year when all those shots on the range and during the round start to catch up to us and we start to feel older than we are. The accumulation of a season of micro tears in the muscles and the irritation to our joints created by the repetitive and explosive nature of the swing starts to be felt in many areas of the body. Recovery needs to be something that we address after each round so that we can prevent this feeling next year and so that we can finish off this season playing as strong as we did mid season. The following regeneration techniques are used by our Olympic team in all sports especially our golfers who played in Rio this year. They help the muscles refuel, the joints regenerate and the nervous system reset.
During the round:
Massage
Grab a longer iron with both hands on the shaft and use the shaft portion between your hands to gently massage some of the tired muscles, usually those in your mid to lower back and in the front and back of your hips.
Fluid
Another important consideration is that most golfers play slightly dehydrated has implications as just a 1% drop in hydration levels of the body leads to dysfunction of the ability of your nervous system and brain to be able to optimally control your balance, the speed of contractions during the downswing and in the fine motor control of your hands. The result is a reduction of power in your swing and poor command of your putter on the greens.
After the round:
Contrast Shower
Stand in the shower with the heat on as high as you are able to tolerate for 3 minutes and then quickly turn the heat to as cold as possible for 1 minute. Repeat this process twice to improve the circulation in the body, which carries all the materials to all the damaged tissue.
Sleep
Another often missed factor of the recovery process is adequate sleep. Many of us are sleep deprived and when we bring this fatigue to the course we might as well leave a few clubs at home and play with just 10 or 11. The average human requires approximately 8 hours of sleep a night. This is so that our growth hormones can be released and have the time to repair the damaged caused to all body tissue from earlier that day.
Greg Redman
Head Physiotherapist and Strength Coach
Golf Canada
