Where Do Medicine Balls Fit in Golf Rehab Treatment Plans?

It starts with a twinge of low back pain during your golf round. A few weeks later, that pain lingers—not just during play, but after. Fast forward, and now it's with you in the morning, at night, and every swing only makes it worse. Recovery takes all day, stealing your performance and enjoyment.

So, how can medicine ball throws help break this cycle?

If you can’t create power with the lower extremity, your low back will suffer

The simplest way I can put it is that medicine ball throws teach us how to integrate lower body power with the upper body and torso. Imagine throwing a medicine ball at the wall WITHOUT using the lower body. How much force can we develop here? How much extra stress are we putting on the low back to maximize it?

Now imagine a medicine ball throw while utilizing the lower extremity. Power goes up, core stability goes up, and stresses on the low back go down. So how does this relate to the golf swing and low back pain?

Poor leg drive worsens golf mechanics AND low back pain

If you do not efficiently and appropriately use the lower body to create and transfer forces to the golf club, you will compensate with trunk and upper body mechanics that stresses the low back. The low back, or lumbar spine, is created to move in all three planes of motion. That being said, it is structurally designed better for flexion and extension (bending forward) than it is for twisting or rotating. Yes, the lumbar spine segments can rotate on each other, but not as much as the thoracic spine and hips above and below it. When we do not generate forces in the lower half effectively, we call on the trunk and arms to pick up the slack. 

This means more torque in the low back! More force generation and rotation as opposed to force transfer and stability. Further, we take away the ability to control the pelvis at the low back when we encourage the low back create more motion and force. At this point, we have a recipe for low back pain as the structures of the low back begin to fail.

Using the medicine ball to create force through the ground

After calming down injured and inflamed tissue, improving mobility in the surrounding joints, and improving strength in these joints, we can begin working on the timing, sequencing, and top end force development. Medicine ball throws and slams provide the perfect opportunity to do this.

Try the drills below to work on increasing maximal force through the legs, integrating that force development with golf sequencing, and finally transferring that feel into the golf swing.

Drill 1: Med ball shovel pass

This is a great place to start to learn to generate force in the lower extremity while transferring it to the pelvis and trunk. Feel how the force comes from pushing through the floor to throw the ball faster and harder.

Drill 2: Single leg foot on wall med ball slam

This is a great drill to learn to create force directly into the ground while creating pelvic rotation in a closed chain (like the golf swing). You will feel the glutes working on both side along with the stance leg quad.

Drill 3: Med ball slam to swing

This is a great drill to help improve timing and sequencing of the upper and lower body while generating maximal force in the slam.

Bonus Drill:  Knees to center swing drill

This is a great drill to take onto the range. This will help integrate the feel of generating force through the ground and transferring into the club. A great way to incorporate the feet and lower extremity in the swing is to start with the feel of moving through the hips first.

Conclusion

The kinematic sequence depends on generating power from the ground up. Without strong, controlled leg drive, we lose the ability to maintain posture, separate the pelvis from the trunk, and execute an efficient, repeatable swing. This not only hinders performance but also increases the risk of pain and injury in the lower back, knees, hips, and shoulders.

Medicine ball drills help bridge this gap by training lower-body power while refining upper-body coordination and mechanics—offering a key solution to lower-extremity weakness and poor motor control.

-Dr. Nick DC, MS, TPI, CSCS

If you would like to learn more about your body, pain, and performance, send Dr. Nick an email at contact@integratedrpc.com or call at (585)478-4379, or schedule a FREE discovery visit at Contact.

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