Abstract
Men and women both enjoy the game of golf. Special considerations are made for women, such as the courses on the professional tours. Thus, one can ask what differences might exist between men and women golfers. This study compares the electromyographic firing patterns of normal shoulder musculature in men and women professional golfers. Eight shoulder mus cles (pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, anterior, middle and pos terior deltoids) were studied using indwelling electro myography.
A visual analysis revealed that women tended to have slightly more activity during the takeaway and forward swing phases, and the men tended to have more activ ity during acceleration and follow-through. However, an independent two-tailed t-test (P = 0.05) showed these differences not to be statistically significant.
This finding is in keeping with injury incidence data from the LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, and Senior PGA Tour, which showed that all three tours have a similar inci dence of shoulder injuries. This study does not compare the relative strength of men and women, however.
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