09/02/2023
In the article “Golf: a contact sport. Repetitive traumatic discopathy may be the driver of early lumbar degeneration in modern-era golfers,” published today in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine (https://thejns.org/doi/full/10.3171/2018.10.SPINE181113), Drs. Corey T. Walker, Juan S. Uribe, and Randall W. Porter from Barrow Neurological Institute describe the biomechanics of modern-era golf and its clinical consequences.
As golf has evolved over the last two decades, the golf swing has become more powerful. To keep up, modern-era professional golf players participate in intensive strength-training sessions. And the techniques of the swing have also changed. During the downswing, greater compressive force is directed toward the spinal disc and facet joints, and this affects these structures asymmetrically. With more than 300 swings per golf-playing day, the golfer repeatedly experiences minor traumatic injuries to the spine, which over time can result in a pathogenic process that the authors have termed “repetitive traumatic discopathy."
