Bending over to pick something up can be a very dangerous move if done with a rounded back. Most people in their lifetime will have an injury to the lower back. One way to help prevent such injuries is to do the good morning.

Performing the good morning is an excellent choice for strengthening and building the posterior chain, which includes the lower back, glutes and hamstrings. The glutes (butt) and the hamstrings are responsible for hip extension while the muscles of the lower back (erector spinea) are contracted statically.

Because of the large degree of hip flexion, the gluteus maximus and the hamstrings are utilized throughout the movement. The glutes work in unison with the hamstring to extend the hips in the concentric (raising) part of the movement. The hamstrings, located on the back of the upper thigh, become more involved as you begin to decrease the degree of hip flexion while raising the weight. The erector spinea, which run the length of your spine on both sides, are statically contracted throughout most of the movement, keeping the normal curvature of the spine. A static contraction of the rhomboids and the trapezius muscles help maintain the shoulders.

Extension of the body occurs when the upper body, torso and pelvis rotate up and back. The biggest mistake I see with this movement is allowing the back to ?round? and magnifying the kyphotic (upper back) curvature while de-emphasizing the lordotic (lower back) curvature. I need to add that a slight curve of the upper back will present no danger and will happen to most while using heavy weight, but if you look like a big question mark (?) while performing the exercise, that?s a different story.

The good morning

The mechanics of a golf swing can cause a variety of injuries. The most common area golfers experience injuries is the lower back. Other areas golfers complain about are the shoulder, or more specifically the rotator cuff, the left elbow, and the left wrist (for right handers). Unfortunately, there is little data available about the seriousness of injuries as a result of playing golf or how to reduce them. However, if we apply what we know from other sports through research and empirical data, I have seen many golfers not only decrease their risk of injury but improve their game.

What golfer in their right mind wouldn?t want to improve his game? As a matter of fact, golfers, more than participants in any other sport, are fanatical. There are more than 20 million golfers in the US and most of them are obsessed with their abilities on the course. They will drop $700 on an iron and $400 for a driver. Many will pay thousands of dollars to belong to prestigious country clubs. Many more will spend hundreds of dollars during the golf season on balls that they?re eventually going to lose. But the average golfer won?t spend a dime on improving his biggest asset to his game: his body. I cannot imagine owning a $2,000 set of clubs and not doing anything to ensure I could use them to their fullest capacity.

To be successful at golf, you need functional strength, flexibility, endurance (ability to hit the club well, over and over), coordination, finesse and timing. You can?t find these aspects of the game in a pro shop. I don?t care how much you paid for your Big Bertha Fusion Irons or your balls that claim to go 20 to 40 yards farther than ordinary balls; if you lack the above, you?re going to be another frustrated player.

Golf: Reducing your isk of injury and improving your game.

“By the time I saw Ali on Sept. 17, 2007, I was experiencing pain and stiffness, to some degree, 100 percent of the time. On a pain scale from zero to10, 10 being the worst pain I ever felt, I reported a three to eight, depending on the day. The pain had recently started radiating bilaterally into the buttocks, and I was also experiencing some ?low back weakness.? I was having a great deal of difficulty at work, and my workouts were piss-poor to say the least. I also started to experience some depression because after being so active my whole life and loving my job, my prognosis for the future looked pretty grim.

After Ali?s thorough assessment during that first visit, she devised a treatment plan that included muscle stimulation, chiropractic manipulation and ART to the associated muscles. After six visits Ali explained she would re-evaluate to determine the treatment effectiveness and adjust accordingly. I had seen, and heard, quite frequently, that athletes start to feel relief, even after the initial treatment. I wouldn?t have believed it if I didn?t experience it. The evening after my first treatment, and the next day, I had more flexibility and less pain than I did over the last several months. After three visits I couldn?t believe the progress.

Fast forward to today. I have benefited so greatly from the expertise of Dr. Aliann Young (below), ART and disc decompression, that I felt compelled to get the information out to as many of our readers as possible.”

Excerpt from ?Oh My Aching Back!? An interview with Dr. Ali Young