Padraig Harrington Interveiw

The following is taken from The Chiropractic Report, Jan 2009
In 2008 Padraig Harrington was voted Golfer of the Year by his professional colleagues on the PGA tour. He won 2 of the 4 majors and this week bids to win the Open Championship for an unprecidented third consecutive year.
For the past 12 years Harrington has been accompanied on tour by Australian chiropractor Dale Richardson, and the Dec 08 issue of the FICS (Federation Internationale Chiropractique du Sport) caried the following interview with Harrington and Richardson.
*Before he had regular care from Dr Richardson, Harrington was missing 4 or 5 tournaments a year from chronic golfing injuries-now he doesn't lose attendance at any.
*He had quite a serious hand injury before the British Open last year. " On Thursday it didn't look like I would be playing and Dale did a great job of getting me ready." He went on to win - successfully defending his title from 2007.
*Harrington and Richardson are on tour together 20 weeks annually - and while Harrington has a healthcare team in Ireland, Dr Richardson is his only health professional on tour.
*He describes his average day while on tour, preparing for and playing in tournaments;
"Essentially I do 45 minutes of stretching, stability, core work to get warmed up, then have a shower and head off to the golf course. After breakfast I spend about 20 minutes with Dale checking that everything is working right and doing a little bit of stretching, then I spend an hour warming up at the range hitting shots.
I go and play about 4-5 hours on the golf course depending on time constraints and energy levels. I could then spend a couple of hours practicing. In my earlier days it was 4 hours practicing, now I keep it to an hour maybe two hours depending on the time of year and the conditions. Then I spend another hour with Dale getting some treatment. That would be my day - I would probably get back in the gym as well if I have the time in the evening."
*Says Harrington "One thing I know through experience is that I need to keep having constant treatment, even when I have weeks off, because I can see even though I would be injury free for say a couple of weeks, I can feel symptoms building up, and if I don't deal with those early signs I'm going to be in trouble."

Good luck this week Padraig!

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Welcome to Sports and Spine, a brand new blog about sports, exercise and the health of your muscles and joints. It comes from the desk of Mark Kennedy, Chiropractor and wannabe sports star. I wouldn't be too fussy what I excelled in, tennis probably would be the favourite but, Tour de France winner, World champion in F1 or Moto GP would also suffice. Sadly I have left things a little late and must satisfy myself with smaller challenges like competing in the New Forest Half Marathon and playing in my local tennis club competitions.
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