When professionals hit the links, they should know that their hips are, well, different than ours. New research from the University of Warwick in the UK has found that elite golfers are more likely to have different shaped right and left hips compared to the rest of us. The finding was made by Dr. Edward Dickenson and his colleagues at the University of Warwick Medical School.
According to the August 16, 2016 news release, the research team, led by Professor Damian Griffin of the University of Warwick, “…originally set out to investigate hip problems in golfers. They were surprised to find that almost a fifth of European professional players reported hip pain. Further investigation found the pain appears to be related to the shape of the ball of their hips. Elite golfers were four times more likely to have an egg-shaped right hip (called cam morphology) compared to their left. These findings are unique to professional golfers; this pattern is not observed in the general population. The presence of cam morphology reduces the range of hip rotation, a movement required to generate power in the golf swing. The researchers found that golfers whose hips are more ‘egg-shaped’ were more likely to experience pain than those who have rounder ‘ball-shaped’ hips.”
“In the new study, cam morphology was found in 16% of right hips (the rear hip during a swing in a right handed player) and 4% of left hips (the front hip during the swing in a right handed player) in professional golfers. Golfers’ hip joints rotate in different directions and at different speeds during the golf swing. These findings of different shapes between hips go some way to explain differential rates of pain between the left and right hips in golfers.”
Dr. Dickenson said: “Our findings have brought up new questions to be answered. What remains to be established is whether professional golfers develop these shapes because [of] the way they are using their hips or whether players with these hip shapes are more likely to become professional.”
Dr. Dickenson told OTW, “Anecdotally we had treated a number of golfers with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. This led us to wonder whether the asymmetrical demands of golf led to more pain in the lead hip (left hip in right handed golfer), and whether this was associated with labral tears, or cam or pincer hip morphology.
“It’s important to know that 20% of elite golfers complain of hip pain. Hip pain is more likely in older players and those with cam morphology. Elite golfers have a reduced femoral neck ante torsion and a higher prevalence of cam morphology and labral tears in their trail (right hip in right handed player) compared to their lead hips.
“Understanding the characteristic morphological differences in golfers’ hips will help in the diagnosis of conditions such as femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAI). Golfers, indeed any patient, with FAI syndrome may be treated with conservative care, physiotherapist led rehabilitation, or surgery, which can be open or arthroscopic. The UK FASHIoN study [feasibility study of a randomised controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for hip impingement compared with best conservative care], which our research group at Warwick Medical School is running, will inform us which is the most clinically and cost effective treatment.”
