Golf - related Injuries and Rehabilitation

Golf has become an increasingly popular sport worldwide. In a survey done by the National Statistical Office of Korea in 2004, it is shown that 3.3% of Koreans who are 15 or older, which is about 1.27 million people, have played golf. Unfortunately, despite the rising popularity of golf, the research on the prevention and treatment of golf-related injuries has been quite lacking in Korea. In terms of sports injuries, golf is considered to have a medium-class injury potential, with most injuries resulting from overuse but other causes such as lack of flexibility, unbalanced muscles, failure in condition management, and inadequate stretching and warm - up /cool - down exercises are also possible. Furthermore, many golfers tend to force themselves into more exercises and rounds even when not having been fully recovered from the initial injury, giving rise to secondary injuries. The prevalence of golf-related injuries varies greatly among researchers, but even with the average of 50%, it can be assumed that about 600,000 Korean golfers are suffering from various kinds of pain and discomfort. The aim of this review is to understand the causes of gold-related injuries and the strategies for the treatment and prevention thereof.