{"id":437840,"date":"2026-03-20T14:47:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=437840"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:47:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:47:45","slug":"pga-tour-doctor-weighs-in-on-back-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/pga-tour-doctor-weighs-in-on-back-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour Doctor Weighs In On Back Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, there has been an uptick in back injuries on the PGA Tour.\u00a0 In recent weeks, both Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa have had to withdraw from event<\/a>s because of their backs, leading to speculation.\u00a0 There is a theory as to why there has been an uptick, and it comes from the PGA\u2019s director of chiropractic services.\u00a0 Dr. Tom LaFountain has shared his thoughts on what is happening to the players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Credence To Fan Speculation<\/span><\/h2>\n

Very recently, there was a lot of fan speculation about the source of all these injuries.\u00a0 One recurring pattern was that most of the injuries were with players on the TGL.\u00a0 The fans were theorizing that the players were getting competitive over the speed number that would immediately display.\u00a0 Rory McIlroy shot that down<\/a> by saying that his ball speed is faster on the Tour.\u00a0 Even Billy Horschel chimed in to clarify that it wasn\u2019t the TGL.\u00a0 However, on the PGA, a doctor believes that part of the competitive aspect creates the conditions in which these injuries occur.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PGA Tour\u2019s Dr. LaFountain Gives His Thoughts<\/span><\/h2>\n

For 27 years, Dr. Tom LaFountain has been working as part of the PGA\u2019s chiropractic services.\u00a0 Before the Tour, he worked with Olympic athletes and has seen his fair share of injuries.\u00a0 During his nearly thirty years of service, he has described seeing patients go on to the Champions Tour while playing on the regular Tour.\u00a0 Those players would often be in good general health.\u00a0 The only back issues they\u2019ve had were after years of wear and tear, often going into their 40s.\u00a0 Withdrawing mid-tournament was almost unheard of.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During his time with the PGA, Dr. LaFountain noticed that the stakes were increasingly getting higher.\u00a0 Especially after LIV disrupted the sport.\u00a0 With the reward for victory getting so high, LaFountain theorized that it encouraged the players only to go harder.\u00a0 In an interview with Golf.com,<\/a> LaFountain said the following.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to make it now,\u201d LaFountain said. \u201cThey\u2019re playing for so much money, and distance is so paramount, that they will swing as hard as they possibly can to make as much money in a short period of time as they possibly can, and be set up for the rest of their lives. The lure of making more now, they compromise career length to make the money now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With the new pressure to grind as hard as possible to clear the course as quickly as possible, younger players can easily twist their backs out of shape.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happened with Collin Morikawa during the first round of the Players.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

What Can The PGA Tour Do?<\/span><\/h2>\n

If LaFountain is correct, that means that the PGA will need to dial things back to keep injuries at a minimum.\u00a0 However, with the plans the FCC has for the Tour, that is unlikely.\u00a0 The PGA is about to get more competitive with more at stake, and more opportunities to reach the top, but also fall back down.\u00a0 For now, though, the players are becoming more mindful of their backs.\u00a0 Although they do see it as an occupational hazard, some steps will be taken to prevent further injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit:\u00a0 \u00a9 Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent years, there has been an uptick in back injuries on the PGA Tour.\u00a0 In recent weeks, both Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa have had to withdraw from events because of their backs, leading to speculation.\u00a0 There is a theory as to why there has been an uptick, and it comes from the PGA\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":437841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19,207],"tags":[276,208,119,34,282],"class_list":["post-437840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga","category-tgl","tag-arnold-palmer-invitational","tag-billy-horschel","tag-collin-morikawa","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-the-players-championship"],"modified_by":"Taylor Craig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437842,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437840\/revisions\/437842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}