June arrives, the courses fill up, and for many golfers in Connecticut, so does the familiar ache in the lower back. If your back starts nagging after 18 holes, you are not alone. Low back pain is the single most common injury in golf, accounting for 25 to 36 percent of all reported ailments, and it affects players at every skill level.
The good news: most golf-related back pain is preventable and treatable once you understand what is actually happening.
Why Does Golf Hurt Your Lower Back?
The golf swing looks graceful, but it asks a lot of your spine. Research measuring spinal loads during a full swing found compressive forces at the L4-L5 vertebrae reaching 6.5 to 8 times body weight at the moment of impact. That is more than many heavy manual labor tasks.
The swing is also deeply asymmetrical. The backswing rotates the shoulders well past the hips, loading the lumbar discs with torsional stress. The downswing then fires back fast in the opposite direction. Do that several hundred times across a round and a practice session, and the cumulative load adds up.
Amateur golfers face a particular risk. Unlike professionals who drill consistent mechanics, recreational players often have swing flaws, like over-rotating the lower back or failing to use the hips efficiently, that force the spine to absorb forces it was not designed to handle repeatedly.
What Does Golf Back Pain Feel Like?
Golf-related back pain tends to show up in one of a few patterns. A dull, aching soreness in the lower back that sets in mid-round or the morning after is the most common. This usually points to muscle fatigue or overuse.
Some golfers feel a sharper, more localized pain on one side, often on the lead side. This can involve the facet joints or the sacroiliac joint, which sits at the base of the spine where it meets the pelvis. (See the SI joint pain article on this site for more detail.)
If pain travels down the back of the leg, that can signal nerve involvement and is worth getting evaluated sooner rather than later.
Can You Prevent Golf Back Pain?
Yes, and the science is encouraging. A 2025 randomized controlled trial published in Translational Sports Medicine tested a golf-specific warm-up and exercise program in high school golfers over 12 weeks. The group that followed the structured program had 84 percent fewer back pain incidents than the control group (16 incidents versus 100). Despite that clear benefit, the same study noted that 48.3 percent of golfers do not warm up at all.
Three things that research consistently supports:
Warm up before you swing. Even 10 to 15 minutes of dynamic movement makes a difference. Hip circles, trunk rotations, and lateral bends prepare the spine for the demands ahead.
Work on hip mobility. When the hips rotate freely, the lumbar spine does less compensating. Golfers with restricted lead hip internal rotation tend to place significantly higher rotational load on the lower back. Hip mobility is often part of what we address alongside spine care.
Strengthen your core and glutes. The deep muscles around the spine, including the transverse abdominis and multifidus, keep the lumbar vertebrae stable during the swing. The gluteal muscles control pelvic movement. Weakness in either shifts load onto discs and joints.
When Should You See Someone?
Mild soreness after a long round is common. A few signs suggest getting evaluated rather than waiting it out: pain lasting more than a week or that worsens with rest; pain that radiates into one or both legs; numbness or tingling below the waist; or back pain that has changed your swing or made you guard certain movements.
A chiropractor, physical therapist, or sports medicine provider can identify whether the source is muscle strain, joint irritation, disc involvement, or something else. Chiropractic care for back and neck pain often includes spinal adjustments, soft tissue work, and targeted rehab, addressing the mechanical factors driving the pain, not just managing symptoms.
Most golfers who address the underlying issue return to full play, often with better mechanics than before.
Sources
- Edwards N, Dickin C, Wang H. Low back pain and golf: A review of biomechanical risk factors. Sports Medicine and Health Science. 2020;2(1):10-18. PMC9219256. [Compressive forces at L4-L5 reach 6.5 to 8 times body weight during the golf swing; lower back is the most common injury site in golf]
- Hamada Y, Akasaka K, Okubo Y, et al. Warm-Up Program for Adolescent Golfers Reduces Low Back Pain: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial. Translational Sports Medicine. 2025. PMID: 40831758. PMC12358233. [84% fewer LBP incidents in warm-up group vs. control; 48.3% of golfers skip warm-up entirely]
- Park C, Kim K, Yoon S, Park I, Cha Y. Physiotherapeutic effects of an innovative golf swing-assist device on discomfort and mobility in amateur golfers with low back pain: A randomized controlled trial. Technology and Health Care. 2023. doi:10.3233/THC-236013. [Golf-specific mobility intervention reduced pain and improved range of motion in amateur golfers with LBP]
