Warm-Up Program for Adolescent Golfers Reduces Low Back Pain: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Low back pain (LBP) is common in golfers. While numerous injury prevention programs exist for youth athletes, there is a significant lack of such programs to prevent LBP in adolescent golfers. Objective: To ascertain the impact of an LBP prevention program on the incidence of LBP among adolescent golfers. Design: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Participants: Forty-five high-school golfers participated (age, 16.0 ± 0.7 years). Interventions: Participants were randomly allocated to either a Golfer's Low Back Pain Exercise Prevention program (GLEP) group (n = 23) or a Sham group (n = 22). Both groups were instructed to implement each intervention before playing golf for 12 weeks. Outcome Measure(s): The primary outcomes were the number of people with LBP and number of LBP incidents. Secondary outcomes included the trunk motion direction associated with LBP and the golf swing phase during which LBP occurred. A chi-square test was employed to compare the number of people with LBP. Poisson regression analysis was performed to compare the number of LBP incidents and secondary outcomes between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference between groups in number of people with LBP over the 12-week period (GLEP: n = 5; Sham: n = 8; odds ratio = 0.486, p=0.279). However, the number of LBP incidents was significantly lower in the GLEP group (GLEP: 16 incidents; Sham: 100 incidents; odds ratio = 0.157, p < 0.001). Secondary outcomes showed that the GLEP group had a significantly lower number of LBP incidents during trunk extension and rotation, as well as in all golf swing phases except for the address phase (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The GLEP for adolescent golfers over a 12-week period reduced the incidence of LBP. Regular use of GLEP program can be recommended for high-school golfers in LBP prevention. Trial Registration: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry: UMIN000051318.