Essay on Did Tiger Woods’ Golf Swing Negatively Impact His Body?

Abstract

The force that the golf swing exerts on the spine does not immediately cause injury. It takes a repeated amount of force to cause injury. In the case of Tiger Woods, his spine eventually had to be repaired due to the repeated damage he did to his body while becoming the best in the sport. Was this due to Woods’ golf swing, or was it just naturally going to happen? This question was researched and discussed, along with the basic anatomy of the golf swing and how the spine reacts during the swing.

Introduction

Many people would agree that Tiger Woods in his prime had one of, if not the best and most powerful golf swing on the PGA Tour. This swing has earned him 82 wins, 15 of them being major championships. However, his powerful swing and extremely high level of golf took a toll on his body, more specifically his back. Woods has had five back surgeries with the most recent one taking place at the beginning of 2021. Four of these surgeries have been due to pinched nerves, while the fifth and most intense surgery was a spinal fusion. Jason Stodelle, a physiotherapist with the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) stated, “Lower back injuries are the main one for us,” while also saying, “30% of injuries are lower back related, usually due to repetition [1].” This shows that back problems are not uncommon in golfers, but five back surgeries for one player is still a bit shocking. In this case, forces on the spine during a golf swing were compared to forces that Woods’ spine would have endured. It was also studied how these forces would differ between an average golfer, an average PGA Tour player, and someone swinging as fast as Tiger Woods. 

Problem Description

The case that was examined was how the forces generated by Woods’ golf swing ultimately damaged his spine, causing the need for multiple surgeries. The objectives of this project are to look at the forces on the spine that the golf swing makes, how these forces affect the spine, and how Woods’ swing was detrimental to his spine.

Mechanics

The golf swing naturally creates forces that are distributed throughout the body, but not equally. Most of the force is applied to the lower back, the elbows, and the knees. It has been estimated that about 7500 N (roughly 1700 lbs.) of force is applied to the spine during the downswing of a professional golfer, for an average golfer the force on the spine is roughly 1500 N less [2][3]. When looking at the L4 and L5 region of the lumbar spine during the golf swing, it has been seen that at the top of the backswing, axial rotational forces are applied to both the L4 and L5 vertebrae, but in opposing directions, this causes the disc between L4 and L5 to twist and stretch. On the downswing, the L4 and L5 are applied a lateral flexion force, which makes the vertebrae come closer together. The disc is there to absorb the force and reduce the amount applied directly on the vertebrae.

The torsional force created by the golf swing is composed of the three main forces, compression, tension, and shear. The spine is good at handling compression and tension forces but is not very good when a shear force is applied. The shear component of the torsional force, called torsional shear, is the main driver of causing lower back injuries to golfers. The stress on the back is asymmetrical, which means that the stress will primarily affect the trail side of the spine and will often lead to degeneration of the trail side lumbar facet joints [3]. 

A component of the golf swing is to have some side bend during the downswing and through impact. Tiger’s swing during his prime can be seen with having a good amount of side bend. The speed that Tiger created with his swing created more force on his spine than the average golfer and the average professional golfer, which is already a large amount of force. The side bending is needed in the golf swing, but the side bending can cause problems to the spine, due to adding another element of stress and angles directly to the spine.

Results and Discussion

The side bending allows the golfer to swing faster and have a more efficient swing, but it comes with some side effects. With more force being applied to an elongated spine repeatedly over time, this is most likely why Tiger has had more back surgeries than the average golfer. With more side bend the spine stretches more which ultimately makes the spine weaker, just like the longer a rubber band is stretched it eventually gets weaker over time. 

The average swing speed on the PGA Tour in 2007 was 112 mph, while Tiger’s was about 124 mph. As mentioned previously, the average professional golfer experiences around 7500 N of compressive force on their spine during the golf swing. For Woods’, this number would be much greater due to his higher swing speed creating more force on his spine. Due to this extra amount of force and hundreds of swings per day, the cyclic nature of this force over a long period of time wore down Woods’ discs and joints faster than other golfers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the golf swing generates a large amount of force which can damage the lower spine. The spine is not good at handling shear forces and the golf swing creates torsional shear, which can cause problems if the torsional shear force is too great. Repetition in this manner subjects the lower back tissues, such as discs and joints, to very high loads that can wear down and degenerate much faster than other areas of the body [4]. This is the case for Tiger Woods. His repeated stress on his spine caused his lower spine to degenerate over time, which is why his L5 had to be removed and replaced. The degeneration process for Woods’ discs and joints was expedited due to his extremely fast swing speed and large amount of side bending in his golf swing. A recommendation for future work for this project is to make a numerical model of how much force Woods put on his spine over the years and compare that to other sports/activities.

References

1. Microsurgical Spine Center. n.d. Tiger Woods’ Back Pain Saga. [online] Available at: <https://mybackmylife.com/tiger-woods-back-pain-saga/#:~:text=It%20is%20possible%20that%20Woods,the%20disc%20and%20surrounding%20area.> [Accessed 26 April 2021].

2. Walker, Corey T., et al. “Golf: a Contact Sport. Repetitive Traumatic Discopathy May Be the Driver of Early Lumbar Degeneration in Modern-Era Golfers.” Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, vol. 31, no. 6, 2019, pp. 914–917., doi:10.3171/2018.10.spine181113.

3. Lindsay, David M, and Anthony A Vandervoort. “Golf-Related Low Back Pain: a Review of Causative Factors and Prevention Strategies.” Asian Journal of Sports Medicine, Kowsar, Dec.2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4335481/#:~:text=Side%20bending%20through%20impact%20is,lateral%20sheer%20on%20the%20downswing.

4. James, J., 2019. WHY DO I HAVE LOWER BACK PAIN AFTER PLAYING GOLF?. [online] Golf Forever. Available at: <https://golfforever.com/lower-back-pain-after-golfing/> [Accessed 27 April 2021].