Injuries associated with golf: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Golf is a popular sport played worldwide. The majority of professional golfers work as teaching professionals based at golf clubs. All professional players spend numerous hours on the golf course, placing themselves at increased risk of injury. There have been no recent, large studies investigating injury patterns among male and female professional golfers. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency, types and mechanism of injury sustained by male and female professional golfers and to compare injury patterns between touring and teaching professionals. METHODS: Injury data was analyzed from 77 amateur golfers recruited through a questionnaire asking about their different injuries. A web based survey was conducted focusing on injury frequency, location and mechanism and any subsequent time loss. Factors such as side of injury, investigations for the injury were noted. RESULTS: The study enlisted the participation of 76 patients. One was excluded due to incomplete questionairres Injuries were reported by 34 patients (45%). Eleven patients said they had an elbow injury. The relationship between the number of years the individuals had been playing golf and their history of injury was shown to be significant (p = 0.0257). Warm up and injury have a statistically significant relationship (p = 0.846). CONCLUSION: In order to contribute to making golf a safer and hence more enjoyable lifetime activity, a greater knowledge of golf-related injuries is required. This study attempts to do so, and the elbow was discovered to be the most damaged region.