Well, I have to laugh to some degree when I experience an injury myself.  I spend so much time helping clients overcome and prevent injuries that when I experience one I simply have to take it in stride find some humor in it.

You see, I suddenly had sharp pain in my neck 3 days ago.  Keep in mind I suffered a high speed car accident about 4 years ago when I hit a concrete wall at 50 MPH on black ice.  Not fun!  Fortunately, I had no serious injuries, but did come away with chronic neck and back pain.  So, if you ever wondered why people in car accidents complain if this, I can attest that it is very REAL pain.  One massage a month usually keeps my symtpoms in check.

For the past 3 days I have had limited neck range of motion, throbbing pain in my neck that radiates down my right arm, as well as interrupted sleep.  But, the great thing is knowing exactly what is causing it.  No doubts – a bulging disc in the cervical spine.  Probably between C5 and C6.  Why I am telling you this?  Simple.  I wanted to let you know that it is really important to listen to your body and address problems right away.  Since this rather unexpected onset of pain, I have taken 2 days off from working out and even stopped running. 

The running part is especially tough as I am training for a 5K in 2 weeks as well as another half marathon in the Spring.  But, early intervention is the key to avoiding long term pain and the surgeon (yikes).  I am confident I will be back in action next week.  Now, on to the meat of today’s post.  As you know, I am releasing my new golf ebook soon (likely next week).  So, I wanted to share a cool exercise with you that I use to warm-up my golfers prior to play.  The warm-up is almost always ignored by golfers.  Most think hitting balls on the range is the only warm-up they need.  Wrong!  Preparatory movement is key to injury prevention and performance.

The following dynamic warm-up movement is effective for loosenig up the groin, shoulders and torso in preparation for effective weight transfer during the swing. 

      

You can do this exercise in an alternating fashion left and right for 10-15 repetitions as part of a comprehensive warm-up.  Stay tuned as I will be sharing more exercise from my book in the coming days as the launch nears.  Have a great weekend!