"I had previously mocked the idea of RSI being a legitimate injury, considering it to be a ruse...my first medicine was to eat a large portion of humble pie."
I hadn’t planned to write about The Ultimate Golf Doctor, but then I hadn’t planned on being laid up with a neck that wouldn’t oblige me with its everyday duties. Yes, it hurts me to tell you this. Literally.
As a former gymnast, I am not used to my body telling me it doesn’t want to twist/turn/bend in various directions. When I took up golf a couple of years ago, my biggest problem was limiting the amount of suppleness I used so that I could build some control into my swing. I have yet to finesse this but to my frustration I found my mobility severely restricted a few weeks ago when I woke up with an unbearably sharp pain in the base of my neck.
For a few days prior to this, I had suffered some minor discomfort when I turned my head to the right, but I put it down to a stiff neck after a couple of long-haul flights and nights spent in different hotel rooms. However, the extreme jabbing pain I felt in my neck was unprecedented and completely debilitating.
A visit to my GP resulted in a hefty prescription of heavy-duty painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs and Diazepam, along with a referral to the physiotherapy department at my local hospital. I spent the week either knocked out or nauseous, and with every attempt to do the breathing exercises on the ‘relaxation CD’ loaned by the hospital, I just fell asleep. And the pain still hadn’t gone away.
It wasn’t long before various friends started suggesting I visit a specialist. There was one name that kept cropping up – Dr. Antoni Jakubowski, chiropractor to the golfing elite.
He’s manipulated the likes of Nick Faldo, Retief Goosen, Thomas Bjorn and Justin Rose into optimum vertebral alignment. Surely he could do the same for me. "‘Dr. Jak’ can fix your back," I was told by a number of acquaintances. His number was passed on by Frank, a single-figure handicapper who was treated successfully by him last year. It seemed I had the perfect, if unwelcome, opportunity to try his talents at first-hand.
So it was that I ventured to Dr. Jakubowski’s practice: the Gonstead Clinic. Dr. C.S. Gonstead was the first doctor in the history of medicine to apply physics to the spine and related joints, and as a consequence of his research studies, he established the Gonstead Method in 1923. This system incorporates precise examination, diagnostic treatment and management protocols in order to analyze and treat spinal and joint conditions.
Dr. Jakubowski was the first fully trained and qualified Gonstead Doctor of Chiropractic in the UK. His practice, founded in 1992, is one of the largest specializing in spinal and joint rehabilitation. He is also a keen amateur golfer, playing off six, and he has dedicated much of his work to sports-related, bio-mechanic problems.
After X-raying my spine, he promptly told me I had a slipped disc at the base of my neck. He quickly identified the exact single vertebrae which was misaligned with the aid of a tool he calls a ‘nervoscope’, which detects uneven heat along the spine and can indicate inflammation and nerve pressure.
My problem, he explained, was likely to have been caused initially by a car accident I had five years before, or it was possibly a form of RSI: repetitive strain injury. Oh dear. I had previously privately mocked the idea of RSI being a legitimate injury, considering it to be a ruse dreamed up by gold-digging litigious types eager to take advantage of our contemporary compensation culture. My first piece of medicine was to eat a large portion of humble pie.
RSI is, I now understand, a series of ‘micro-traumatic physical stresses’ experienced as a result of repeated operations, often in your occupation. In my case this would be using a laptop computer, which causes me to stoop rather than look straight forward, and spending hours at a time writing and reading. This causes the ligaments that hold the vertebrae together to exceed their elastic limit, meaning they no longer adequately hold the joint in tight proximity. This then causes abnormal joint wear and tear, producing inflammation, muscle spasm and nerve impingement.
"What we do as chiropractic specialists is to firstly identify the exact vertebrae in question," says Jakubowski. "Then I rehabilitate it by means of a specific adjustment or manipulation into its correct position, taking into account the vertebrae above and below."
He sits you down and cradles your neck and skull while chatting away. Once you have relaxed, you are ‘yanked’ in a controlled manner. It left me with watering eyes. It hurt.
However, after a few sessions (which become less painful each time), I now have full mobility back in my neck and shoulders and have full faith in his expertise and that of Karen and Amanda, the two therapists who carried out my deep-tissue massage.
SEVEN HEALTHY POINTERS TO BETTER GOLF
The pressure points – the lower back, shoulders and wrists – are the most obvious joints at risk for golfers, due to the repetitive nature of the golf swing. But carrying a golf bag can place enormous strain on your neck. Take advantage of dual-harness straps over your shoulders to distribute the weight evenly.
Pull carts are not the best way to carry your clubs. This can build unnecessary pressure from pulling and bending in the wrong positions. Powered or electric carts are safer.
Golfers often don’t warm up effectively prior to playing. If the muscles aren’t prepared by a good stretching routine, this can lead to a lack of flexibility and injury. Stretch hamstring, quads, chest muscles and shoulders – if necessary, on each tee.
Don’t forget to have a good post-game stretch as well.
Wear proper shoes for stability.
Pain is a warning sign. Don’t ignore it. If you do injure yourself, use ice rather than heat and seek help from your doctor.
Remember! – A healthy back will improve your swing.
I suspect I will now become a regular visitor to the clinic, simply to insure against recurring problems, and I will always sympathize with anyone who is genuinely suffering from a form of RSI. In fact, only recently has it been suggested that the ‘yips’ may not be a psychological problem but a form of RSI, caused by constant use of a similar grip position and twisted wrists.
Jakubowski explained that the majority of injuries sustained in sports are a result of repetitive strains. In golf, the structural elements of the body, the ligaments (ligaments attach bones to bones), stretch beyond their elastic limit, thereby rendering the joint structure unstable or hyper-mobile. If the initial episode of back or neck pain is not treated correctly, disc degeneration ensues.
"Pain is always the last symptom to come and the first to go," says Dr Jak. "This establishes that the structure deforms over time as a result of the unidirectional nature of the golf swing, producing the joint weakness, leading to the pain. Just because you don’t suffer from pain, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem lurking. Of all the professional golfers I have seen, these structural weaknesses were there much longer than the symptoms.
"Having just one joint or muscle out of line can make 18 holes seem like 108," he warns. "It’s no wonder, if you are swinging your club 70-100 times with an injured back or wrist. By simply aligning the body perfectly, everyone can play golf better, and with less effort."
As someone who has acted as chiropractic consultant to the British Olympic figure-skating team, to Formula 1 drivers, Premiership footballers and international cricketers, as well as to numerous professional golfers, he is someone worth heeding.
