TheBeardedFatGuy
Birdie Member
First let me say, I'm not a medical professional - far from it. I'm just an amateur whose had a few brushes with disc golf-related injury over the nearly two years I've been playing and I'd like to share some of what I've learned to hopefully help other beginners have long, healthy lives playing the sport. These aren't in any particular order and any suggestions for improvements would be much appreciated.
1. Don't underestimate the risks. Injuries on the course can be severe enough to not only permanently end your disc golfing, they can also reduce your standard of living off the course, possibly for the rest of your life. A torn meniscus in your knee or rotator cuff in your shoulder can lead to expensive and painful surgery and possible pain and lessened functionality for the rest of your life. Think not being able to huck frisbees sucks? Try not being able to go hiking, go down stairs, or lift or work on anything over your head.
2. Know your physical limitations. Do you have issues of prior injury, age, non-athleticism, obesity, inflexibility, lack of balance, etc? Make sure you play within these limitations and don't push yourself to do more unless you know you can handle it.
3. Listen to your body. We've all done it - known our knee/wrist/back/elbow/rotator cuff/ankle or miscellaneous muscle was giving signs of pain, but we just couldn't resist the lure of going out on the course. Many minor injuries are due to repetitive (or even one time) tissue damage or irritation, sometimes caused by playing disc golf. Tennis elbow is a common example. Sometimes this is a sign of a flaw in your technique and sometimes it just happens. When it happens, missing a week or more of playing is far better than causing more serious and/or longer lasting injury. Time away from the activities that cause the pain is often what it takes to let it heal. When it is healed, start again slowly and try to correct the issue that was causing it - if there was something to blame like poor technique.
4. Stretch before playing. Seriously. It's well known that exerting cold/tight muscles contributes t injury. There's plenty of info out there suggesting stretching routines so I won't bother.
5. Start slow. If you're new to it, don't try a full speed run up. Work up to it slowly and your technique will benefit from it as well. It's often best to work on a standing drive first, shifting weight from one foot to the other before complicating things with a run up or x-step. Any unskilled footwork rushed into can lead to a whole litany of injuries depending on what you twist or how you land when you lose it and fall.
6. Know where the end of the tee pad is. Some pads are flush with the ground, and some have dropoffs at the end. The two times I've lost my fooding and fallen it was on a tee pad with aout a 2" drop off at the end that my foot got too close to. I'm lucky I didn't break my ankle - fortunately I face planted instead, so nothing serious was injured.
7. Proper technique is crucial to avoiding injury. Arm and pectoral muscles can strain and even tear if the arm is flung violently without the shoulders rotating with it to prevent those muscles from overextending or being yanked violently short. The spine and back muscles, too, can be wrenched badly if the torso rotates without the hips. Not following through after the hit is a prime cause of injury. Beware of situations where you want to throw hard but know you can't follow through proerly, such as when your arm would slam into a tree if you followed through. These up/rescue shots often cause the muscles connecting my arm to my torso to protest as they try to stop my arm short of hitting the obstacle.
8. Your plant/pivot leg should be straight, not bent at the knee, and you should rotate on your heel, not the ball of your foot or, even worse, your toes. A straight leg rotated on the heel is less likely to twist the knee or ankle and cause injury.
9. If you hear someone yell, "FORE!" don't crane your neck and look around for the approaching danger. You're far less likely to catch a disc in the nose or teeth if you instead turn your back on the yeller and duck your head, maybe even covering it with your arms. Sure you'll feel like an idiot, but an idiot who still has all his front teeth.
10. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Most courses have multiple areas where you're easily in danger of taking a flying disc to the head. Be aware of who else is playing and where they are, and from where danger is likely to come. And not everybody yells, "FORE!" even when they see they're about to nail somebody with their 189g, razor-edged Prometheus. Likewise, don't throw when there's any chance of hitting someone. If your buddies are less attentive, warn them when they're in danger of other throwers - just not when they're about to throw.
11. Disc stuck in a tree? Think twice before trying to get it down by throwing rocks or branches as catching either in the face is worse than trusting someone will call you when your disc comes down in a wind. It's also dangerous and inconsiderate to leave thrown branches stuck in trees where they'll possibly fall on someone when there's a breeze.
12. Keep your temper under control. One of the injuries that kept me off the course the longest was a deep gash in the palm of my throwing hand that happened when I took out my anger on a fallen branch that blocked my upshot from skipping all the way to the hole. It was stupid and I paid for it. Still have the scar to remind me.
13. Park your car safely. Our local course has limited parking near holes 1 and 10 - the most popular starting holes. When the course is crowded and parking limited, parking farther in one direction places you (and your car) in danger from discs thrown from one hole. Parking too far down in the other direction puts you practically on the 18th fairway. Finding a broken headlight or door dent is bad enough, but putting yourself in the line of fire getting to and from your vehicle is risky. Park farther away if it means you're safer.
14. Don't drink and drive, or putt. Not preaching here, but playing buzzed or stoned is not only likely to reduce your athleticism, it will increase your chance of injuring yourself. And driving home afterwards is not only criminal, it could result in death for yourself or others.
1. Don't underestimate the risks. Injuries on the course can be severe enough to not only permanently end your disc golfing, they can also reduce your standard of living off the course, possibly for the rest of your life. A torn meniscus in your knee or rotator cuff in your shoulder can lead to expensive and painful surgery and possible pain and lessened functionality for the rest of your life. Think not being able to huck frisbees sucks? Try not being able to go hiking, go down stairs, or lift or work on anything over your head.
2. Know your physical limitations. Do you have issues of prior injury, age, non-athleticism, obesity, inflexibility, lack of balance, etc? Make sure you play within these limitations and don't push yourself to do more unless you know you can handle it.
3. Listen to your body. We've all done it - known our knee/wrist/back/elbow/rotator cuff/ankle or miscellaneous muscle was giving signs of pain, but we just couldn't resist the lure of going out on the course. Many minor injuries are due to repetitive (or even one time) tissue damage or irritation, sometimes caused by playing disc golf. Tennis elbow is a common example. Sometimes this is a sign of a flaw in your technique and sometimes it just happens. When it happens, missing a week or more of playing is far better than causing more serious and/or longer lasting injury. Time away from the activities that cause the pain is often what it takes to let it heal. When it is healed, start again slowly and try to correct the issue that was causing it - if there was something to blame like poor technique.
4. Stretch before playing. Seriously. It's well known that exerting cold/tight muscles contributes t injury. There's plenty of info out there suggesting stretching routines so I won't bother.
5. Start slow. If you're new to it, don't try a full speed run up. Work up to it slowly and your technique will benefit from it as well. It's often best to work on a standing drive first, shifting weight from one foot to the other before complicating things with a run up or x-step. Any unskilled footwork rushed into can lead to a whole litany of injuries depending on what you twist or how you land when you lose it and fall.
6. Know where the end of the tee pad is. Some pads are flush with the ground, and some have dropoffs at the end. The two times I've lost my fooding and fallen it was on a tee pad with aout a 2" drop off at the end that my foot got too close to. I'm lucky I didn't break my ankle - fortunately I face planted instead, so nothing serious was injured.
7. Proper technique is crucial to avoiding injury. Arm and pectoral muscles can strain and even tear if the arm is flung violently without the shoulders rotating with it to prevent those muscles from overextending or being yanked violently short. The spine and back muscles, too, can be wrenched badly if the torso rotates without the hips. Not following through after the hit is a prime cause of injury. Beware of situations where you want to throw hard but know you can't follow through proerly, such as when your arm would slam into a tree if you followed through. These up/rescue shots often cause the muscles connecting my arm to my torso to protest as they try to stop my arm short of hitting the obstacle.
8. Your plant/pivot leg should be straight, not bent at the knee, and you should rotate on your heel, not the ball of your foot or, even worse, your toes. A straight leg rotated on the heel is less likely to twist the knee or ankle and cause injury.
9. If you hear someone yell, "FORE!" don't crane your neck and look around for the approaching danger. You're far less likely to catch a disc in the nose or teeth if you instead turn your back on the yeller and duck your head, maybe even covering it with your arms. Sure you'll feel like an idiot, but an idiot who still has all his front teeth.
10. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Most courses have multiple areas where you're easily in danger of taking a flying disc to the head. Be aware of who else is playing and where they are, and from where danger is likely to come. And not everybody yells, "FORE!" even when they see they're about to nail somebody with their 189g, razor-edged Prometheus. Likewise, don't throw when there's any chance of hitting someone. If your buddies are less attentive, warn them when they're in danger of other throwers - just not when they're about to throw.
11. Disc stuck in a tree? Think twice before trying to get it down by throwing rocks or branches as catching either in the face is worse than trusting someone will call you when your disc comes down in a wind. It's also dangerous and inconsiderate to leave thrown branches stuck in trees where they'll possibly fall on someone when there's a breeze.
12. Keep your temper under control. One of the injuries that kept me off the course the longest was a deep gash in the palm of my throwing hand that happened when I took out my anger on a fallen branch that blocked my upshot from skipping all the way to the hole. It was stupid and I paid for it. Still have the scar to remind me.
13. Park your car safely. Our local course has limited parking near holes 1 and 10 - the most popular starting holes. When the course is crowded and parking limited, parking farther in one direction places you (and your car) in danger from discs thrown from one hole. Parking too far down in the other direction puts you practically on the 18th fairway. Finding a broken headlight or door dent is bad enough, but putting yourself in the line of fire getting to and from your vehicle is risky. Park farther away if it means you're safer.
14. Don't drink and drive, or putt. Not preaching here, but playing buzzed or stoned is not only likely to reduce your athleticism, it will increase your chance of injuring yourself. And driving home afterwards is not only criminal, it could result in death for yourself or others.
