Las Vegas, NV -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/03/2014 -- It is estimated that approximately 30 million Americans play the game of golf. Most people view golf as being a low-risk injury sport. Statistically, about one half of all golfers will suffer a golf injury. It is common for golfers to suffer from overuse injuries along with acute musculoskeletal pain. The top six golf areas of injury occur in the spine, elbow, wrist, hand, shoulder and knees. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were more than 55,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms for golf-related injuries in 2009. The main causes of these golf injuries include the lack of flexibility, poor conditioning, excessive play or practice, poor swing mechanics and ground impact forces.

The golf swing happens fast and creates extremes amounts of stress. It only takes a professional around .82 seconds to complete the backswing and only .23 seconds to complete the down swing. This puts a tremendous amount of stress on the spine, requiring it to flex, laterally bend, rotate and extend in all less than 1.5 seconds. Due to the fact that amateurs have less than perfect swing fundamentals when compared with professionals. Research, shows amateur players generated approximately 80% greater peak lateral bending and shear loads, and 50% more torque than the pros. This may predispose amateur players to muscle strains, facet disease or herniated discs throughout the spine.

For amateur players the average club head speed is around 80-100mph while the pros are around 110-130mph. The golf swing creates the compression force of 8x the body weight. The power generated to drive a golf ball requires the same amount of energy has to lift something 2-4times until muscular fatigue.

Here is an overview of the top 6 most common sites for golf specific injuries.

1. Spinal Injuries. Back and neck injuries are the most common in golf. It is due to the rotational stresses of swinging a golf club in a flexed stance. Muscular strains and strains along with herniated discs are quite frequent. Neck injuries are common is newer players who are not used to swinging a golf club. The neck muscles can tighten and become painful and spastic.

2. Shoulder Injuries. Rotator cuff injuries. The rotator cuff muscles are 4 muscles at attach to the scapula and help stabilize the shoulder. The most common areas are the supraspinatus and infraspinatus. As a golfer gets older, more degenerative changes will occur such as rotator cuff thinning, spur formation and subacrominal space narrowing. Some younger players tend to get more shoulder instability or excessive laxity of the shoulder joint.

3. Elbow Injuries. Tendinitis. It is the inflammation and a repetitive type injury that occurs on the of the elbow. "Golfers Elbow is injury to the inside and "Tennis Elbow" is injury to the outside. The lead elbow is more commonly injured. Lateral epicondylitis is more commonly seen in the non dominant lead elbow and medial epicondylitis in the dominant elbow.

4. Knee Injuries. Stress is placed on the knee thru out the golf swing because it has to stabilize while the hip are rotating. Torn ligaments are quite common.

Torn ACL is usually heard with a popping sound if the knee goes past it's normal range of motion. A torn MCL will occur on the inner part of the joint. Injury can typically heal without surgery and is accompanied by swelling, soreness and bruising on the inside knee. along with the nature wear and tear of the knee joint cartilage. It is common to see tearing of the meniscus in the knee. Meniscus serve as our knee shock absorbers. Types of Arthritis can deteriorate the knee on the inner and outer edges as well as behind the knee.

5. Wrist Injuries. De Quervains Tenosynovitis. This is an injury to the left thumb of a right handed player where there is an inflammation of the sheath surrounding the tendon of the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis. The most common golf-related wrist issue is tendinitis. It accounts for the swelling of the tendons responsible for wrist movement, experienced mostly at the top of the backswing and impact.

6. Hand Injuries. Hamate fracture. This type of injury occurs when a player mis-strikes the ground and the hamate bone fractures. Due to the repetitive motions of hitting the ground hundreds of times, it is frequent to see deformed bones and a condition called hypothenar hammer syndrome or HHS.

Stop immediately if suffering from golf specific pain. Playing will only exacerbate the problem. All players should seek first aid or prompt medical treatment. Make sure to get the proper rehabilitation which is different from treatment.

Dr. Jackson's Play Better Golf Tips

1. Go to the gym and warm up your muscles with some light exercise prior to playing.
2. Get the golf course early enough hit balls and loosen you swinging motion.
3. Spend more time chipping and putting than hitting balls at the range.
4. Don't attempt drastic swing changes the day of play.
5. Controlled breathing and relaxing the body prior to each shot

ABOUT DR. JACKSON
Raj Jackson is unique as the only Doctor of Chiropractic and PGA Golf Professional in the world. He serves as the Director of Golf Instruction and CE Speaker at the Dr.PGA Golf Learning Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr. Jackson educates Medical Doctors and Doctors of Chiropractic on golf injury's, swing biomechanics and peak performance. Dr. Jackson is combining golf & chiropractic to produce an unparalleled perspective to help educate doctors thru a series of continuing educational golf seminars that develop Dr.PGA certified golf doctors. For more information, go to http://www.drpga.com.