Play Golf Forever

Book excerpt: PLAY GOLF FOREVER: Treating Low Back Pain and Improving Your Golf Swing Through Fitness is an overall look at low back pain as it relates to golf and it includes information on when you need to see a doctor as well as on types of medical treatments for low back pain. The core of the book is an exercise program designed to strengthen the lower back for the rigors of golf--functional training for core strengthening. Citing a few stories of patients from his SPorts Medicine practice in Southern California, where people can golf year round, Dr. Michael Jaffe focuses on the message that motion is life. Jaffe, who is a golfer as well as a triathlete, mixes medical information with a physiological examination of a golf swing and then offers an exercise program that is designed specifically to strengthen a golfer's back. Low back pain is very common in golfers. What should be common knowledge among golfers--in fact, among all of us-- is that exercise is the best thing you can do to ease your pain. By making clear that exercise works, PLAY GOLF FOREVER is an inspirational book that educates, motivates and demonstrates. Someone once said, "There is nothing more obvious than the gracefulness of a well-timed golf swing." Learning the mechanics of such a golf swing, especially as it relates to back health, is another cornerstone of this book. This book is split into three parts--examining the back, the game of golf as it relates to the back, and the exercise program. These three parts are book ended by two inspirational chapters explaining the power of the body to heal itself, and how functional training recharges that power. Part One of PLAY GOLF FOREVER delves into an explanation of the many kindsof lower back pain, when to see a doctor, including a list of red-flag symptoms, and then an overall look at the various treatments available. Part Two of the book examines why golfers get lower back, including a look at the four major causes, as well as a comparison between golfers with and without lower back pain. This part will also examine the golf swing in pieces so that golfers can understand exactly what their body is doing during this quick burst of athleticism. Part Three of PLAY GOLF FOREVER offers an examination of how muscles and nerves work together and then how functional training for core strengthening is designed to challenge and improve the way the body works. Finally, this part will delve into a stretching program to be used before playing as well as throughout a game on the course. PLAY GOLF FOREVER is a book for those who want to play golf but feel hampered by their lower back. Though it does include a few stories from Dr. Jaffe's practice as well as from the world of professional golf, this book is not designed as a narrative. It is a self-help book in its most basic form. It offers information, inspiration, and instruction. It offers a way for people to play golf forever.