The best stretch you can do for your lower back (and your golf swing)

Golfers need to be flexible and mobile in order to have an efficient golf swing, but that can be hard to do when we’re sitting for hours on end at a desk.

Sitting all day is detrimental to our bodies for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that your muscles tend to shorten, especially around your lower back and hips. This tightness can contribute to swing flaws like S-Posture and early extension.

This phenomenon is known as Lower Cross Syndrome (LCS). LCS occurs when a muscle is contracted for an extended period of time and causes a weakening of the muscles on the opposite side of the body. 

Luckily, stretching for a few minutes a day can loosen your hip flexors and stop them from pulling on your lower back, which should loosen up your golf swing.

The stretch, deemed “the most important lower back stretch you can do,” by viral Tik Tok doctor Dr. Daniel Aronov, is pretty easy and requires no equipment. All you really need is a wall. 

“Get your knee into the corner of the wall, or as close to it as you can,” Dr. Aronov explains. “And get your other leg up.” 

“It might be hard at first, so you might need to bend forward, but eventually, as the muscles loosen up you can straighten,” Dr. Aronov says. 

Why does this work so well to loosen your lower back?

“The hip flexors attach to the spine, and when they’re tight, they cause a lot of back problems.”

Doing this stretch for two minutes per side daily will help keep your hip flexors loose. This means less lower back pain and more flexibility to turn in your golf swing.

A bigger turn can help power up your swing, so don’t sleep on this stretch.