Hideki Matsuyama / One Arm Golf Swings & Neck Injury Drills / Stretching 👍👍

With the rise of social media, it’s no longer a challenge for golfers to access mobility drills for various parts of their body, with the most common being the hips and thoracic spine. While improving your mobility in these two areas is vital for most golfers, the cervical spine (aka neck) is one of the more neglected body parts in terms of mobility training but is equally important.

According to TPI data, an average PGA TOUR player demonstrates about 73 degrees of left sided rotation, 64 degrees of right sided rotation (with some turning as much as 80 degrees in each direction), flexion of 47 degrees, and side bending of 25 degrees both to the left and right. Moreover, the golf swing requires a lot cervical spine motion and if you don’t have this type of mobility then your game will suffer from swing inefficiencies.

Since we live in the digital age, physical therapists (PTs) are noticing that majority of people’s spines are consistently flexed forward. Whether you’re slumped over a computer, hunched to email or text, or standing/sitting with poor posture during your commute to/from work, the flexed position places our head in a suboptimal position, otherwise described as upper crossed syndrome. In this syndrome, the muscles around the shoulder blades and deep in the neck can become weak and the pecs and upper traps become tight. Having an upper crossed syndrome puts you in a mechanical disadvantage for motion, and eventually could cause you to develop injuries both during golf and in daily living.

Before diving too deep into how your neck can affect your golf game, here is snapshot of the anatomy of the cervical spine. The cervical spine consists of 7 vertebrae that begin at the base of your skull and extend down to your first rib. Starting with the one just below your skull they are sequentially ordered from 1-7. On each side, we have a joint which is called a facet, giving us a total of 14 different joints in the neck! Between each vertebra is a disc, which gives the neck its forward arching structure. The disc makes up about 25% of the height in the neck and is meant to buffer compression on the spine as well as withstand tension. The disc also functions to give adequate space between each vertebra, that way a nerve can come out of the spinal cord and go to your upper body. In total, there are 8 nerve roots on each side that come out of your neck to send messages to/from the brain via the spinal cord. With so many structures in such a small area, there is no wonder why this area is important to both everyday life and the golf swing.

As we age, we may develop various conditions due to poor posture or neck injuries. Common injuries or conditions include: arthritis, degenerative disk disease, muscle strain/ligament sprain, and herniated disc. While it’s recommend that you speak live with a healthcare professional about your diagnosis, there are some exercises that may help. Please consult with your physician prior to completing these exercises.

An injured cervical spine could really wreak havoc on your swing and your ability to play well. If you lack full cervical motion, or at least values similar to that of tour professional averages, you may experience loss of posture, early extension, or even the dreaded reverse spine angle. If you have any of these swing characteristics or would like to see if you have sufficient cervical mobility, refer to the video. If you fail to touch your chin to your collar bone, you should consider working on your cervical mobility.

If you are looking for improved cervical motion and function, here are 3 simple exercises that you can perform daily to aid with this.

1.) Sit up nice and tall and fixate your eyes on an object at eye level. From here, slowly bring your head straight back, maintaining your eye level. Go back as far as you can or to the point just before pain. Complete 3 sets of at least 10 reps.

2.) Begin by sitting up tall with a hand towel draped around your neck. Cross arms so that your right arm is holding the side of the towel on your left side and vice versa. Hold your left hand against your chest and bring your right hand to nose level ensuring the edge of the towel against the level of the spine where you have either pain or tightness. Actively turn your head to the right while maintaining your right hand at your nose level. Once you get to the point of resistance, give pressure on your right hand with the towel. Switch hand positions and perform this turning left. Complete 3 reps the very first time you do this, and then 3 sets of 10 reps subsequently.

3.) Begin on your back with your head supported by the surface you are laying on. Slowly perform a chin tuck, and while holding the chin tuck, lift your head slightly off the table. Your head should not be supported by the table now, and you should hold this position for as long as possible with the goal of being longer than 30 seconds!

[RollYourRock]

Please read the description ⬆ABOVE⬆for more info on this video...
If you enjoy the content here on RollYourRock, please consider subscribing and "ringing the bell" to be notified of new uploads.
If you enjoyed this particular video, please consider leaving a "Like" (thumbs-up). Thanks! 🙂

[chillier]

That 3rd exercise is intense! Too much phone and desk work in my life

[TheNYgolfer]

Imo it's just showing off. Either you are a hitter or a swinger. Whichever you are, why on earth would you practice something that is opposite?
John Daly is a swinger and he does left arm only chip and pitch shots to remind his brain of what it has to do. He does not confuse his brain by doing right arm only shots. He does other things to confuse his brain...lol
Hideki told the announces to put the camera on him and he will give them something to shoot the breeze over...lol