Golf is a funny game. Some days you love it and other days, well, you know. I am a senior (age 76) and play mostly with my fellow oldsters. I have noticed two things: (1) Technology has allowed me to hit the ball as far as I ever had; and (2) Every week, one or more of my playing partners is suffering from some (usually) temporary ailment. The ailments include arthritis in various parts of our bodies, sore backs, tired feet, muscle aches, etc.
Many of us don’t stretch as often as we should. That’s on us. Ibuprofen is a popular medication. Massage or chiropractic provide very nice, but expensive, relief.
So, I was wondering how other seniors deal with these types of issues and do they have some recommendations for “relief from the grief” of getting older. I look forward to your answers.
Bruce
I’m still a young senior at 65. But I have had my share of ailments over the last few years. In an effort to relieve heel and ankle pain due to plantar fasciitis I started a daily stretching routine. It only takes 5 to 10 minutes every morning, but it makes a huge difference. I feel like I have better flexibility now than I did in my late 40s.
Before rounds and range: I stretch every joint starting with my fingers and moving to my ankles. It’s loosely based on the video of Jimenez warming up, if you’ve ever seen that. I stretch each joint for an 8 count. Then I swing a club 10 times starting short and slow and progressing gradually to long and fast. My criteria for the stretching part was that I had to be standing. Those pre-round stretch videos where people are sitting or laying on the ground? Not practical. I’m sure nobody would accuse my routine of being adequate, but it’s short and easy enough that I never skip.
Three times per week: Last year I injured my shoulder (golf bag started falling and reached to catch it). I saw a chiro, then a physical therapist. He gave me six resistance band exercises that I do three times per week.
Three time per week: The Fit for Golf guy has a video on isometric exercise for golfers elbow. I’ve had that a few times over the last few years and I continue to do the exercises even though I don’t have elbow pain currently.
Also, I’m “only” 55 but I feel 75 sometimes. It’s all preventative stuff, but let’s face it, once you have the ache there’s no magic bullet. It’s all the stuff you said.
You are on the right track, keeping the small joints mobilized then expanding to the larger core muscle.
I used to take ibuprofen before each round of golf, did not pop it like candy but had been a regular regiment to mask the pain and discomfort, because I did not have the time and was lazy doing extra exercise.
I now will start pay attention to moving my fingers and small joints first thing after I get up in the morning, then all the way to the golf course, while waiting to get on the first tee box, often use the hand rails on the golf cart to stretch my larger muscles.
One of my buddies said doing push ups every night had helped his golf game. I’m not certain that I like to go back to the pushups, but I’ll consider it because his golf game did not suffer like the rest of us and he can still drive the tee shots out there. There is no way I’ll do 200-250 pushups at one session like he does.
I had mentioned here on this forum sometime ago, I’ll repeat what had really helped me, personally.
I started to have shoulder and joint issue after the age of 52-54? They call it the 50th shoulders where I lost some mobility in my rotator cuff. Soreness and little pain everyday. I had accepted it as the payback time from all the abuse I had given my body when I was younger.
However, a pair of my friends who are super senior ( 76&81) been visiting their dietician for a long time and they are on a supplemental diet.
High doses of vitamins and in particular the fish oil. They take 2,000 units of high quality fish oil per day.
By chance I was put on the fish oil supplement before and after I had the cataract surgery some years ago. While that supplement of high dosage of fish oil was meant to help the healing from the eye surgery, a surprising side effect happened.
I noticed that I could get up and down the stairs without much pain, and I could produce a near full back turn for my golf swing.
I had been on a maintenance dosage of high quality fish oil for years now and I could honestly say; this fish oil works better than the other joint specified supplement for me.
1,600 units every other day now, works for me fine. not going to break the bank and I had been off the ibuprofen for years.
Like you said, the massage and chiro adjustment will help, but expensive. Bob Hope did a whole body massage every day until his passing at 100. The massage must have helped.
I don’t have the means to have a full body massage everyday, insurance only allows 2-4 visits annually after the recommendation from my primary care physician.
I rub the ends of fingers and toes whenever I sit down watching the television. It helped. There is many videos and medical research on helping the circulation in the end joints. I call this- waking up my nurves at the end of my limbs.
Like my physician said, use it or lose it. Keep moving.
I’m only 57, but yes you accumulate aches & pains all your life and in my case around 40 they start catching up to you. Two years ago most of my issues hardly bothering me and then last year for some reason everything flared up on me. I had gotten lax with workouts, stretching, supplements, etc and maybe that’s what kept the problems at bay. I didn’t touch a club for most of the winter in order to recover.
I get up earlier again so I can do some stretching. It’s better for my game if I stretch rather than hit balls lol. Mostly basic stretches and basic yoga. I like to hang from a pullup bar for a bit which seems to help my shoulder and back issues. Vitamin D, turmeric, magnesium, potassium and fish oil help a lot and I generally don’t need ibuprofen if I keep up with this stuff.
This. I have to warm up now. Thinking MAJ might have a point… And do all the rest. And it still hurts after, but at least it’s tolerable. Sucks. I’ve a mild rotator cuff and a few finger joint issues that just. Will. Not. Heal. Nowhere near as bad as the back pain @Craigers went through, but still enough to take me out of what I’m trying to do.
I’m 63 years old. I have exercised my whole life. I currently lift weights 2x/week, cycle 2x/week, and do stretching and mobility every day. The exercise helps my strength and endurance, and I am more flexible now than when I was 25. However, I have arthritis in my hands, my left shoulder is probably going to need surgery, and my right hip and knee are always sore. My back was a problem about 10 years ago, but so much other stuff has gone wrong that my back is gone way down my list of priorities.
So I don’t believe you are magically going to be better by exercising and stretching. They help, but face it - we’re old. Shit doesn’t work the way it used to.
Now in my late 60s didn’t start golfing until my mid 50s. Love the game but yeah it’s tough on the old back and joints … which already have plenty of problems…
I believe what works for me is to stay active; and to do things like… have a reasonably healthy diet and keep extra weight off; regular stretching and yoga with an emphasis on golf specific movements; situps and pushups; Theraband wrist roller (great for fingers, wrists, forearms sage golfers/tennis elbow); light conditioning exercises with stretchy bands; cardio exercise, including walking the course; a daily multivitamin; generic version of Voltarin (Diclofenac sodium gel) and MSM cream; anti-inflammatory supplements; etc etc.
Like others have mentioned just taking ibuprofen is not good enough.
As we age we definitely have to work to not lose too much of what we have … to slow down the aging process and maintain our level of conditioning if possible … but you’ll only get out of it what you put in…
Please, please, consult your physicians if taking any drugs for long term, even the seemingly safe, over-the-counter variety.
One of my kids is a pharmacist, and I was warned not to take the ibuprofen for long term as a temporary solution for my aching fingers and back. Not very healthy for my kidneys and liver, I was told.
Constant ibuprofen can be rough on the kidneys, see this bit on GoodRx: https://www.goodrx.com/classes/nsaids/nsaids-ibuprofen-bad-liver-kidneys
Still nowhere near the knife-edge you balance on with acetaminophen, but something to keep in mind and discuss with your doctor.
That said, we need (OK, i need) something. This shit hurts. And Danny Maunde + Pete Cowen can shove this, “Rotate the right arm down!” thing right up their ass.
I really need to stop blindly doing (or at least warming up first) whatever Youtube yahoo claims is “The secret!” to whatever thing is ailing the hacker.
J,
In any case, long term use of any medication will have serious side effect on our health. This is one reason why we need to review our daily meds with our primary care physician each year.
This is often neglected during our annual visit to the wellness checkup.
I used to pop a couple of ibuprofen when nagging soreness or discomfort bothering me.
I quit that habit of reaching for the ibuprofen bottle automatically since a couple of episodes of kidney stones.
If I don’t have the time to stretch and exercise, I’ll take the pain and the soreness. Cause the kidney stone was one of the toughest thing I had to go through. If you think root canal is bad, think 10 times of discomfort for kidney stones.
When body gets aged, all the parts are not as they used to be. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to just replace them with spare parts.
The birth, the aging, the sickness, and the death are the 4 major steps we all will go through in life. I’m still learning to accept the pain and discomfort as part of the journey. Accepting is a learned art.
I remember that in your region, with the unusual heat wave, you guys have the humidity to deal with. Hope you’re weathering this summer well.
We’re getting hot here, but noting like triple digits with high humidity. About 15-18 degrees higher in temperature than the seasonal normal. Staying indoors for the next few weeks.
A cool glass of Arnold Palmer is my best friend.
For some odd reason I flash back to a (very!) much younger self prepping for a big football (soccer) match: bananas (for potassium) and whiskey (for pain). Ah, youth!
Nowadays Voltaren joins sunscreen & bug spray in my bag.
I heard Jon talk about Fit for Golf and I had previously seen Mike Carroll on youtube or something. I paid the $120 to get into his system. I’ve been way more disciplined following his program. Plus, I love knowing what to do to properly stretch before practice or playing golf.
Besides the stretching BEFORE the round, I try to stretch and hit the sore spots AFTER the round. At 72, the soreness lingers so even a very hours laters you can still find the tight spots. I love the summer because the pool is a great place to stretch. The other thing I do is not do a bunch of heavy chores before I play. The daily stuff? No worries, but the 3-4 hours in the yard and sun I try to limit that at 2 days prior.I find that really helps maintain the stamina throughout the round especially in the heat. And if walking, which I like to do, it is especially important to build up the reserves to prevent the late round fade. I have always used sodium naproxen (Aleeve) for my arthritis and joint pain. Normally 1 works fine. Costco OTC is cost effective and it works great for me. I had TKR last year but many years prior to that Ihad a doc prescribe Naproxen for me. Wow! Waking up in the morning was wonderful. However it was hard on my stomach so I went to OTC strength and while not as effective it still works great. So prior to playing dont go lifting 100lbs bags of sand, or unload 40 bags of bark or bust up concrete to repair a water leak!!
I have found the Orange Whip to be useful both as a warm up tool and as an every day or every other day drill to develop some strength, flexibility and tempo. I just started with the Golf Forever program but will get more serious when the weather turns. And at 74 almost 75, I’ve just come to realize that some days are better than others and accept limits
Yoga for flexibility, and make sure you always have a proper warm up.
More than anything, keep moving. Walking or some kind of exercise every day.
I subscribe to Fit for Golf also. After lifting last winter, I am 10 - 15 yards longer off the tee this year (I am 63)
Haha… back pain is nothing. Currently have a hole in my colon. Last round was in June. Next projected round is 2024
I’m so sorry, Will!
I hope you recover, and are able to live Life to the fullest that you can.
(Growing old ain’t for sissies, is it?)
Please.keep up us to date with how you’re doing.
OMG! Another on my prayers list. Please do all you can to get healthy. Modern medicine is pretty amazing today. Hopefully they can repair that for you and I will be on your way to being a 6 Million Dollar Man. Your health is everything, then follow the script for healthy eating.