Speed Up Your Golf Injury: Recovery with Dry Needling

Golf is a game of precision, power, and repetition. The repetitive nature and the sustained postures of swinging can lead to discomfort and injuries can sneak up on even the best players. If you’ve ever struggled with nagging pain in your neck, elbow, low back, or other joints, you might be wondering how to recover faster. One effective way to speed up healing is dry needling.

What Is Dry Needling?

Dry needling is a specialized treatment that uses thin, monofilament needles to target muscles, tendons, and joints. It helps reset the nervous system to relieve pain, decrease muscular tightness, and improve muscle function. While dry needling uses the same type of needle as acupuncture, the placement and purpose are different. In dry needling, the goal is to create controlled inflammation that increases blood flow and brings nutrients to the injured area, helping it heal faster. Click here to read more about Dry Needling

Common Golf Injuries That Benefit from Dry Needling

Neck Pain and Limited Rotation

Neck mobility is essential for a smooth golf swing. The average golfer needs about 70 degrees of cervical spine rotation for proper mechanics. Upper crossed syndrome—a condition where the muscles in the back of the neck and chest become tight while the muscles in the front of the neck and upper back weaken—can lead to poor posture and limited motion. This results in C-posture, negatively impacting your swing. Upper trapezius trigger points and tightness in all neck muscles can be correlated with cervicogenic headaches or neck pain with headaches.

Symptoms of Upper Crossed Syndrome

• Tight upper trapezius/levator scapulae

• Tight chest muscles (pectoralis major and minor)

• Weak deep neck flexors

• Weak lower/middle traps and serratus anterior

Symptoms of Neck Pain with Headaches (Cervicogenic Headaches)

• One-sided neck pain with headaches

• Pain after long periods of sustained posture or repetitive movements

• Limited neck mobility

• Weakness in neck muscles

Golfer’s Elbow (Medial Epicondylitis) and Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis)

Elbow pain is another common problem, especially in amateur golfers who struggle with improper wrist positioning during the swing. Amateur golfers tend to have their lead wrist extended and trail wrist flexed. This creates stress on the flexor mass (muscles that bend the hand toward the forearm) on the medial elbow (palmar surface) of the trail hand manifesting in golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis). This can lead to stress on the extensor mass (muscles that lift the hand up) on the lead hand resulting in symptoms of tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) over time if not attended to properly. Swing characteristics that lead to medial elbow pain are casting, scooping, and chicken winging. These swing characteristics are often compensations secondary to lower body dysfunction. Overuse and strain can lead to golfer’s elbow, which affects the inside of the elbow, or tennis elbow, which affects the outer elbow.

Golfer’s Elbow-Symptoms (Medial Epicondylitis):

• Pain or burning of inner forearm

• Weak and painful grip

• Pain with resisted wrist flexion 

• Pain with resisted pronation 

Quick Test: Straighten your arm with your palm up. Press down on your palm with your other hand. If you feel pain in the inner elbow, you may have golfer’s elbow. 

Tennis Elbow-Symptoms (Lateral Epicondylitis):

• Pain or burning on the outer elbow

• Weak and painful grip

• Tenderness at the lateral epicondyle

Quick Test: Try lifting a light chair with your arm fully extended. If you feel pain in the outer elbow, you might have tennis elbow.

Low Back Pain

One of the most common golf-related injuries, low back pain, often stems from Lower Crossed Syndrome—a condition caused by weak glutes and core muscles combined with tight hip flexors and lower back muscles. This can affect posture at address and result in S posture. S posture increases your risk for reverse spine angle, loss of posture, and early extension which are common among amateurs and are the top causes of low back pain. The above mentioned imbalance and swing characteristics increase your risk of conditions like:

Muscle Strain-Symptoms: 

• Stiffness in low back

• Spasms in low back

• Pain in low back that worsens with movement

Disc Herniation-Symptoms (Low Back Pain with Radiating Pain):

• Low back pain

• Radiating pain, numbness, and tingling into leg(s)

• Decreased leg strength

• Possible sensory and reflex deficits 

Spondylolysis-symptoms (stress fracture in the lumbar spine):

• Dull ache in low back that worsens with activity and lessens with rest

• Common in adolescents

Dry Needling: A Tool for Faster Recovery, Not a Cure-All

While dry needling is not a one-stop fix for injuries, it plays a crucial role in accelerating and speeding up your golf injury recovery. Combined in skilled physical therapy sessions with manual therapy such as soft tissue mobilization and joint mobilization, exercises such as eccentrics, stability, and dynamic stretching, and passive modalities such as ultrasound and red light therapy it can help golfers return to the course pain-free and with improved performance.

How Dry Needling Helps Golfers Recover

   Reducing muscle tightness that can limit mobility and cause pain.

   Improving blood flow to injured areas, speeding up the healing process.

   Decreasing pain signals to allow for better movement and strength recovery.

Swing Characteristics explained: Understanding your swing to speed up your golf injury

Reverse Spine Angle (38% of amateurs): Occurs when there is any excessive  upper body backward bend or excessive  left lateral (for right handed golfers) upper  body bend during the backswing	Reverse Spine Angle
Loss of Posture (64% of amateurs): Occurs when there is significant  variation from the body’s original  setup angles during the golf swing	Loss of Posture
Early Extension (64% of amateurs):   Occurs when the spine and hips of  the golfer start to go into extension or  straighten up too early on the downswing	Early Extension
C-Posture (33% of amateurs): Occurs when the shoulders are  rounded forward at address and there is a definitive roundedness to the back from the tailbone to the  back of the neck in the setup position	C-Posture
S-Posture (25% of amateurs): Occurs when the golfer is creating too much arch in their lower back in the setup position	S-Posture
Casting (56% of amateurs):  Occurs when the club head and the  lead forearm are in a straight line  prior to making contact with the ball	Casting
“Early Release”/Scooping (56% of amateurs):  Occurs when the club head  passes the hands through impact	Early Release / Scooping
Chicken Winging (35% of amateurs):  Occurs when there is a loss of  extension or breakdown of the  lead elbow through impact	Chicken Winging
Flat Shoulder Plane (45% of amateurs):  Occurs when the shoulders turn in a horizontal plane greater than the axis of the original spine angle	Flat Shoulder Plane
Over-the-Top (44% of amateurs): Occurs when the club is thrown outside of the intended swing plane and the club head approaches the ball in an out-to-in motion	Over the Top
Hanging Back (68% of amateurs): Occurs when a golfer doesn’t shift the weight properly back to the front side on the downswing	Hanging Back
Slide (31% of amateurs): Occurs when there is any excessive lower body lateral movement towards the target during the downswing causing inefficient sequencing	Slide
Sway (37% of amateurs): Occurs when there is any excessive lower body lateral movement away from the target during the backswing that forces the golfer’s weight to the outside of their back foot causing inefficient sequencing	Sway

Ready to Get Back to Golf Faster?

At AVION Sports Rehab, we specialize in helping golfers recover quickly and perform at their best. If you’re dealing with nagging pain, dry needling might be the missing piece in your recovery plan.

Schedule an appointment today and get back to swinging pain-free!