Golf is a popular sports activity. Unlike most sports, it can be played throughout the golden years, if you can avoid injury and stay in shape. The American Physical Therapy Association says that older golfers often forget that while their passion for the game remains high, their bodies have aged. As we age, we lose flexibility, muscle mass and strength. Because the golf swing’s extreme bending and twisting movements are not natural for the body, senior golfers are at a greater risk of injury. Correct body mechanics on and off the course (lifting golf bags, etc.) play a larger role in preventing injuries. Warm-up exercises before starting a game are essential to prevent injury, and continuing with these exercises during the game will help muscles recover faster and maintain muscular balance. Keeping yourself in shape with year-round conditioning, balance, strength, endurance and flexibility training ensures an injury-free game.
Essential Warm-
Wrist Stretches: Increase flexibility. Start with one arm held outward horizontally, elbows straight, palms down. Use your other hand to bend your wrist downward. Hold it for 20–30 seconds. Then turn palms upward and repeat. Do 2–3 sets.
Trunk Rotation:
Increases trunk ROM. Stand in the golf posture. Place your club behind your neck, on your shoulders and grasp each end. Rotate your upper body back and through in a slow and controlled motion, simulating a golf swing. Feel a stretch at the trunk region. Repeat 10 times.
Anterior Shoulder Stretch:
Increases range of motion (ROM). Standing, hold your golf club behind your back with palms outward. Raise the club upwards until a stretch is felt in the front of your shoulders and chest. Hold 20–30 seconds. Do 2–3 sets.
Trunk
Extension: Increases trunk ROM and prepares muscles for your golf swing (reduces back injury.) Stand holding your golf club with both hands (palms outward), rest your club on the small of your back. Bend backwards slowly. Hold for 2 seconds and return. Repeat 5–10 times.
Hamstring and Groin Stretches:
Improves ROM at the hips and groin, allowing for better movement during the golf swing. Starting with one side, stand in front of a bench holding the golf club as a cane to maintain balance. Place your heel on the bench seat with the standing leg straight. Keeping hips facing forward, point your toes back toward you, hold 20–30 seconds. Next, rotate your body toward the club side and feel a groin stretch. Hold 20–30 seconds. Alternate position and repeat 2–3 times.
Moon Physical Therapy, LLC
320 Ward Avenue, Suite 107, Honolulu, HI 96814
Aquatic, Land-
Our oldest seniors, members of “The Greatest Generation,” remember Great Depression and World War II. By facing fear and surviving hardship and loss, they grew strong and confident. They don’t flaunt their accomplishments, even though we may call them heroic.
As a child in the ’40s, Brokaw recalled, “The grown-ups all seemed to have a sense of purpose … Whatever else was happening in the neighborhood, there was something greater connecting us all, in large ways and small.” In our fast-paced “communication age transpose connectedness is often mistaken for socializing on Facebook. The Greatest Generation shared high ideals — sacrificial commitment to family, community and nation. Personal gain and entertainment were low priorities. Brokaw beautifully describes a generation drawn together by a sense of duty to and responsibility for the common good. Challenges and sacrifices pulled together a nation, and the nation pulled as a team.
Brokaw actually describes values like respect and fortitude the “right stuff”— the characteristics we see in our Hawai‘i seniors. Our state politics may be liberal, but our way of life is conservative. Families are multigenerational and tight-knit. We nurture relationships. Making a living in Hawai‘i is hard, and cost-of-living is high, so everyone must sacrifice a little of the American dream to “live Hawai‘i.” Everyone in the canoe paddles.
Brokaw admits he holds a “missionary zeal” for this generation that birthed more than its share of public heroes — Sen. Daniel Inouye, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. But Brokaw also writes about people we never heard of: soldiers who came home and never said much about the war, and men and women who worked civilian jobs that were crucial to the war effort.
During the month of August, take your grandchildren to visit a kupuna in their ’90s and listen to their stories, like Brokaw did. Or pick up a copy of The Greatest Generation at your local book store or at 