Jiří Michal1, Stanislava Straňavská1, Anika Bolčíková1
1Matej Bel University, Faculty of Sports Science and Health, Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic
Comparison of the Occurrence of Musculoskeletal Pain in Professional and Amateur Golfers
Sport Mont 2025, 23(3), Ahead of Print | DOI: 10.26773/smj.251015
Abstract
This research aimed to determine and compare the annual prevalence of musculoskeletal problems (MSKP), such as aches, pains, discomfort, and numbness, for professional (PRO) golfers and amateur (AM) golfers. In to- tal, 144 golfers participated in our research: 45 PRO golfers from 18 countries and 99 AM golfers. The primary research method was a non-standardized online questionnaire. The part of the questionnaire focused on the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain in golfers contained questions from the standardized Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (ÖMPQ). We collected responses from late July 2024 to mid-September 2024. A chi-square test of homogeneity showed that there was a significant difference in the annual prevalence of MSKP between PRO golfers and AM golfers in the shoulder (PRO=40.00%, AM =20.20%, RR=2.63 (95% CI:1.22—5.70)), wrist/hand (PRO=44.44%, AM=23.23%, RR=2.64 (95% CI:1.25—5.60)), hips/thighs (PRO=40.40%, AM=18.18%, RR = 2.56 (95 % CI:1.17—5.59)), and neck (PRO=40,00%, AM=18.18%, RR=3.00 (95% CI:1.37—6.58). Significant associations were found between MSKP and training load, competitive frequency, breaks from golf, age, and gender. Professional golfers reported higher prevalence of MSKP than amateurs, except for the elbows, where amateurs were more af- fected. Understanding these differences highlights the impact of training load and demographic factors on injury risk, which can inform coaches and medical staff in optimizing training programs and reducing pain occurrence.
Keywords
golf, musculoskeletal system, Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire, pain
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