Play Golf Forever: Treating Low Back Pain & Improving Your Golf Swing Through Fitness [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Michael Jaffe (Author), Brian Tarcy (Author), Ron Brizzie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

PLAY GOLF FOREVER: Treating Low Back Pain and Improving Your Golf Swing Through Fitness is an overall look at low back pain as it relates to golf and it includes information on when you need to see a doctor as well as on types of medical treatments for low back pain. The core of the book is an exercise program designed to strengthen the lower back for the rigors of golf--functional training for core strengthening. Citing a few stories of patients from his SPorts Medicine practice in Southern California, where people can golf year round, Dr. Michael Jaffe focuses on the message that motion is life. Jaffe, who is a golfer as well as a triathlete, mixes medical information with a physiological examination of a golf swing and then offers an exercise program that is designed specifically to strengthen a golfer's back. Low back pain is very common in golfers. What should be common knowledge among golfers--in fact, among all of us-- is that exercise is the best thing you can do to ease your pain. By making clear that exercise works, PLAY GOLF FOREVER is an inspirational book that educates, motivates and demonstrates. Someone once said, "There is nothing more obvious than the gracefulness of a well-timed golf swing." Learning the mechanics of such a golf swing, especially as it relates to back health, is another cornerstone of this book. This book is split into three parts--examining the back, the game of golf as it relates to the back, and the exercise program. These three parts are book ended by two inspirational chapters explaining the power of the body to heal itself, and how functional training recharges that power. Part One of PLAY GOLF FOREVER delves into an explanation of the many kindsof lower back pain, when to see a doctor, including a list of red-flag symptoms, and then an overall look at the various treatments available. Part Two of the book examines why golfers get lower back, including a look at the four major causes, as well as a comparison between golfers with and without lower back pain. This part will also examine the golf swing in pieces so that golfers can understand exactly what their body is doing during this quick burst of athleticism. Part Three of PLAY GOLF FOREVER offers an examination of how muscles and nerves work together and then how functional training for core strengthening is designed to challenge and improve the way the body works. Finally, this part will delve into a stretching program to be used before playing as well as throughout a game on the course. PLAY GOLF FOREVER is a book for those who want to play golf but feel hampered by their lower back. Though it does include a few stories from Dr. Jaffe's practice as well as from the world of professional golf, this book is not designed as a narrative. It is a self-help book in its most basic form. It offers information, inspiration, and instruction. It offers a way for people to play golf forever.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Michael Jaffe is the director of the Low Back Pain Clinic at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. He is also an athlete, a golfer, and a staff physician who has heard thousands of patients tell him that lower back pain is preventing them from playing golf. Dr. Jaffe has a credo: Motion is life. His belief that much of how we express ourselves is through our physical actions is emphasized in this book, which is designed to get people back doing what it is they love to do - golf. He has run marathons, participated in 100-mile bicycle races, Won a corporate relay bike race across the Unites States, entered triathlons, and climbed mountains such as Mount Kilamanjaro and Mount Rainer. He is an avid snowboarder and in-line skater. In his training for his many athletic activities, Dr. Jaffe discovered the wonders of functional training at about the same time he began playing golf. He immediately recognized that the muscle groups and skills that are strengthened in functional training are the exact same ones challenged by the game of golf. And he discovered that functional training is the perfect program for golfers with lower back pain. Dr. Jaffe is an experienced speaker and is on the Speakers Bureau for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Medtronic Neurological. He is currently lecturing on the subject of golf and back pain at U.C.L.A. and U.C. Davis, and San Diego Osteopathic Medical Association, National medical Conferences, as well as San Diego Fit Running Club. He has also spoken to regional Southern California Kaiser Permanente Primary Care Symposiums about golf and back pain. THE COLLABORATORS BRIAN TARCY has collaborated on more than one dozen books on business, professional sports and medicine. He is also a freelance journalist and his work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. Here is a list of his books:The complete idiot's guide to starting a restaurant, By Howard Cannon with Brian Tarcy (Alpha Books 2001) The complete idiot's gu --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Literary Architects; Revised edition (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933669144
• ISBN-13: 978-1933669144
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,194,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, May 16, 2006

By 

C. McCallister "R. McCallister" (San Diego, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Play Golf Forever: Treating Low Back Pain & Improving your Golf Swing Through Fitness (Paperback)

Dr. Jaffee's "Play Golf Forever", is one of the best books I have read about golf and the body. We are avid golfers that plan on playing for along time. This book contains a wealth of information that is so important to the body and a successful fun game of golf! The way it is written made it easy to understand. My wife and I feel that any golfer would really enjoy this book!