Franklin sits in one of the best golf pockets in Middle Tennessee. Between Westhaven, Temple Hills, Old Natchez, the Country Club of Franklin, Franklin Bridge, and a handful of other courses within a short drive, there is no shortage of tee times on any given weekend. Golf looks gentle from the cart, but we see plenty of golfers at Amplify Health and Performance dealing with a low back that will not loosen up, an elbow that flares every time they grip a club, or a shoulder that has quietly gotten worse over a season.

Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that more than half of all golfers, including 73.5 percent of professional golfers and 56.6 percent of amateurs, will deal with a golf-related injury at some point. If you are one of them, or you want to keep it that way, here is what is actually going on and what to do about it. If you also spend time on the pickleball court, our guide to pickleball injuries in Franklin covers a lot of the same overuse patterns in a different sport.

Why Golf Injuries Are So Common, Even Though the Sport Looks Low-Impact

A golf swing is a full-body movement. Your ankles, hips, mid back, shoulders, and neck all have to coil and then unwind in a fraction of a second to strike the ball. When one of those areas lacks the mobility or strength to do its job, another area picks up the slack. That compensation is where most golf injuries come from.

Almost no golf injury happens from a single bad shot. It happens from taking the same slightly flawed swing hundreds of times over a season, which is exactly why the pain tends to creep in gradually rather than show up all at once.

The Most Common Golf Injuries We See in Franklin

Golf injuries follow a fairly predictable pattern, and most of them trace back to a handful of areas.

Low Back Pain

Low back pain is the single most common complaint among golfers, and it is usually a mobility problem in disguise. When your hips and mid back cannot rotate as far as your swing needs them to, your lower back ends up twisting to make up the difference. Over time, that shows up as anything from general stiffness to a strained muscle or a disc problem.

Golfer’s Elbow and Tennis Elbow

The repeated gripping and impact through the swing put a constant load on the tendons around the elbow. Pain on the inside of the elbow is usually golfer’s elbow, and pain on the outside is tennis elbow. Both are classic overuse injuries, and both tend to get worse, not better, if you just keep playing through them.

Shoulder Pain

Your lead shoulder, in particular, takes a lot of stress through the backswing and follow-through. Golfers commonly deal with rotator cuff irritation or bursitis, which usually starts as a dull ache and gradually gets sharper the more you play.

Hip Pain

Most of the power in your swing comes from hip rotation, so the hips take on a heavy workload. Golfers often develop bursitis on the outside of the hip or irritation in the labrum, the cartilage that helps stabilize the joint. Tight hips are also one of the biggest reasons low back pain does not go away.

Wrist and Hand Strain

Less common than the injuries above, but still frequent enough to mention, wrist and hand strain usually shows up in golfers who grip the club too tightly or who take a lot of divots with poor contact.

Why Golf Injuries Keep Coming Back

If you have rested a sore elbow or a stiff low back, felt better, and then had it return the moment you got back on the course, that is not bad luck. Rest calms down pain, but it does not fix the mobility gap or the compensation pattern that caused the injury in the first place. We see this constantly, and it lines up with what we have written about recurring back pain and shoulder pain that keeps coming back after traditional PT. A few weeks off the course do not retrain your hips to rotate properly, nor do they build the strength that was missing in the first place.

This is why a real recovery plan has to look at the whole kinetic chain rather than just icing the joint that hurts. A tight hip or a stiff mid back can quietly overload the elbow, shoulder, or low back for an entire season before it finally becomes painful enough to notice.

How to Prevent Golf Injuries

Most golf injuries are preventable once you know where your body is compensating.

  • Warm up before you play. Get to the course early enough to stretch and hit a bucket of practice balls instead of walking straight to the first tee cold.
  • Stay active between rounds. Muscles and joints that sit still all week get tighter and more injury-prone, even if you play golf regularly.
  • Work on hip, mid-back, and shoulder mobility. These are the areas that most often cause compensation injuries elsewhere in the swing.
  • Build core strength. A stable core supports your spine and improves swing consistency at the same time.
  • Get a movement assessment instead of guessing. Every golfer’s body is different, and the mobility or strength gap causing your pain is specific to you.

How Amplify Health and Performance Treats Golf Injuries in Franklin, TN

Every visit at Amplify is one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy, so we start by identifying where your swing is limited and why, rather than just treating the symptom. Depending on your injury, your plan might include:

  • A one-on-one movement assessment to find the mobility or strength gap driving your pain.
  • McKenzie cervical and lumbar therapy for low back pain and disc-related issues.

Dry needling to release tight tissue behind stubborn elbow, shoulder, or hip pain, similar to what we cover in our dry needling versus massage breakdown.

  • Focus shockwave therapy for chronic tendon pain, like long-standing golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow, that has not responded to rest.
  • Blood flow restriction training to rebuild strength safely while an injury is still healing.

We also build golf-specific [PRE]habilitation programs so you can address mobility and strength gaps before they turn into an injury that costs you a season.

When to See a Physical Therapist for a Golf Injury

A little stiffness after eighteen holes is normal. It is time to get evaluated when:

  • Pain lasts more than a few days or comes back every time you play.
  • You notice your swing changing to avoid pain in a certain area.
  • A joint feels weak, unstable, or catches during specific movements.
  • You have been relying on anti-inflammatories just to get through a round.

Tennessee has direct access laws, so you can schedule an evaluation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Amplify without a physician referral first. That means you can get a real answer about what is going on before the injury has a chance to affect your entire season.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do golfers get so much lower back pain?

Low back pain in golfers is usually caused by limited mobility in the hips and mid back. When those areas cannot rotate as far as the swing requires, the lower back twists to compensate, and that repeated strain adds up over time into stiffness, muscle strain, or disc irritation.

What is the difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow?

Both are overuse injuries caused by repetitive strain on the tendons of the elbow. Golfer’s elbow, or medial epicondylitis, causes pain on the inside of the elbow. Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, causes pain on the outside. Golfers can develop either one depending on their swing and grip.

Can I keep playing golf with a minor injury?

Mild, short-lived soreness is usually fine to play through as long as you pay attention to your form and warm up properly. Pain that changes your swing, returns every round, or involves swelling or joint instability is a sign to get it evaluated, since playing through those issues is one of the main reasons they become chronic.

Do I need a doctor’s referral to see a physical therapist in Tennessee?

No. Tennessee allows direct access to physical therapy, so you can schedule an evaluation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Amplify without seeing a physician first.

How long does it take to recover from a golf injury?

It depends on the injury and how long it has been going on. A mild strain might improve in a couple of weeks with the right rehab, while a longstanding issue like golfer’s elbow or chronic low back pain can take several weeks to a few months of consistent physical therapy to fully resolve. A one-on-one evaluation is the best way to get a timeline specific to your situation.

Does Amplify Health and Performance offer golf specific physical therapy in Franklin, TN?

Yes. Golf is one of our [PRE]habilitation specialties, and we regularly treat golf related low back, elbow, shoulder, and hip pain using one on one physical therapy, McKenzie therapy, dry needling, and shockwave therapy.

If golf has left you dealing with a low back, elbow, or shoulder that will not quite calm down, our team at Amplify Health and Performance in Franklin, TN can help you find the actual cause and build a plan to fix it, not just manage it. Reach out to start your intake and work one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy who understands the game.