Identifying Potential Injury-Inducing Mechanics in the Swing of a Teen Phenom

Chiara Noja is one of the most exciting young golfers in the women’s game. A teenage phenom, she became the youngest ever champion on the Ladies European Tour after winning the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah at just 16 years old.

Chiara came to us last year while recovering from a shoulder injury. Whenever we’re working with a golfer who is dealing with an injury, our first priority is to identify whether the swing could be part of the problem.

If you are a coach, fitness or medical professional interested in learning more about how to help golfers determine if their body is affecting their swing, check out our newly updated Level 1 online course: https://www.mytpi.com/certification/tpi-certified-level-1

If you’re a golfer interested in a physical assessment, you can connect with a TPI Certified expert via our Find an Expert page: www.mytpi.com/experts

all right we’re excited to have Kiara Norya here today Kiara is coming in from Dubai Uh she is actually a young phenom on the Ladies European tour She’s 18 years old Kiara was born in Germany but was raised in England played for the English national team Turned pro when she was 15 years old Had her first professional win when she was 16 Known for great distance she can really hit the ball really hard but she’s had this nagging shoulder injury that’s kind of sidelined her for the last 6 months Kiara’s main goal is to move to the LPGA right and to get there uh one of the easiest ways is to go to qualifying school go to Q school right and so because of this injury we only have a few months left to really start ramping up and get ready for Q school in the fall So she’s at the point now where she can actually swing an iron and we want to take a look to see is the swing part of the problem This is an important juncture if we’re going to try and make LPGA this year to get her back healthy and swinging as fast as possible If you like videos like this and more content from my TPI make sure you hit the like and subscribe button below We’ll keep you notified anytime a new video launches We’re going to hit six irons so I need to build up to that Going to attempt a full swing There are certain injuries that make me think of certain swing characteristics that tend to create these injuries right so if you say “Hey my knee hurts.” So there’s certain things I’m going to look for versus if you say “My back hurts or my shoulder hurts That feel too bad What we’re going to do first is we’re just going to look at how you’re creating force My right leg does basically everything My main thing is I just want to make sure you’re not doing anything that could be making this worse So let me walk you through kind of my scanning process here when players come in with injuries Now Kiara is complaining of shoulder and midback pain right so some of the things that I’m going to look for are things that can put excessive stress on the shoulder right so things that can put excessive stress on the shoulder upper body dominated swings right so if you got somebody who’s just chopping at the ball and they’re not using their lower body you put a lot more stress on the upper body that can stress the shoulder Things where you see excessive rotation of the club excessive pronation supernation a lot of club face opening closing that can put some weird stress on the rotator cuff any rapid deceleration of the club You hit really heavy shots and the club decelerates really fast that can put a lot of force into the shoulder and put a lot of jarring into the muscles that control the stability around the shoulder Double plate rev Double plate rendering Okay let’s take a look here That is really good K You don’t That’s You don’t realize how good that is Holy moly All right we can go Impressive golf swing Very tall very athletic It’s good to be 18 years old right so I can see why she can create a lot of power She’s got just that classic great golf swing A lot of width big turn And I start looking at the numbers right away I can see like her vertical force is 171% of body weight I mean average with a driver on the LPJ is 175 And this is with a sixiron I’ve been putting a lot of work in elsewhere So like when you’re swinging right now you feel like you’re not holding back at all You’re swinging hard This is the rhythm I would hit Perfect Perfect I can always do more No no no That’s perfect See is controlled Yeah that’s what I want to know That’s really good Okay I definitely want to do 3D first My first glance looks pretty good I don’t see any glaring obvious you know excessive side bends or bending forward loss of postures I see a great looking golf swing here It looks like what I would see from a veteran top 10 player in the world on the LPGA I’m doing this like I said for one specific reason and that is just to make sure if I tell you to start practicing that you’re not doing something stupid Cuz again I don’t know what caused the injury If I asked you what do you think caused the injury what would you say i don’t know I’ve thought about it for the last 12 months But but you don’t remember anything that could have I still think it was the stick and bad sleep What a lot of people don’t realize is that you can get these little accumulative traumas but the problem is not the trauma is that your body’s not healing right and one of the things that can impede healing is how you sleep I keep putting myself in these positions put a pillow between my knees right y and then put a pillow under my shoulder Yeah And then under my head If I break your arm and instead of putting in a cast every night you hit your arm and broke it again it’d still be broken in four weeks When I first started talking to her you know her sleeping position I her arms were up and she was doing some weird things I think with her shoulder and her spine And if you do that for eight hours that could be the whole problem I had a foam roller behind my back so I don’t roll over it I wake up I’m not in that position Don’t know if she wants to sleep Like I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m doing something Well that’s why I told you to belt your arm down If we can get that correct a lot of times your body just heals itself In looking at the ground reaction forces now that I know that the lower body is actually working that is one factor that goes into looking at shoulder If the lower body wasn’t working well then that would make sense why the upper body would try and work twice as hard But I look at her lower body and I’m like it’s working and it’s working really well So that’s a good sign that the lower body is not absent in her golf swing I’m hoping that she just had an injury that she brought to the golf course and all we have to do is rehab that injury and she’s back in action right and that it’s not a swing creating injury Like there are alarming things that players do that can damage their shoulder and their back And I’m looking to see if you’re doing any of those cuz if I say “Hey let’s go Let’s get back to swinging.” I don’t did your swing create this that’s what I’m trying to figure out Like so I don’t want to put you back in the fire Now one of the things I’ve learned over the years here just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it’s efficient When I say efficient is how they transfer power how they create power and how they transfer through your body The only way to see that is with 3D motion capture We got a young player here 18 years old Swing looks beautiful Looks like it’s got a lot of power So we’re going to go in the lab now We’re going to get some 3D and some force data just to make sure what I’m seeing is efficient Well it’s exciting that you’re swinging right that’s exciting right and to be honest with you it did feel worse after I swung Awesome So it’s awesome Kind of the same Uh don’t worry Keep doing whatever you’re doing swing-wise We’re changing the sleep We’re getting a little different care and you’re good to go That’s what I’m hoping it’s that easy Did you play any other sports i did everything Did you that’s That’s the key I can see already I think my blood circulation has been cut off too tight Yeah a little bit That better a little bit Yeah Hold on a second Sorry about that It’s all good Hate to be So I could take your blood pressure at the same time Yeah I mean that’s important I just don’t know if that would help with the Wait a second analysis Okay I think I’m the only one that finds myself funny No I I think you’re I think you’re funny I’m laughing inside I’m laughing inside Yeah inside How was that one better I think Double plate ready That was perfect I’m pretending to understand what the squiggly lines mean The red lines the prettiest so that’s what I’m looking at You want the good news or the bad news i only want good news Good cuz I don’t have any bad news Okay so now the picture is becoming very clear The ground reaction forces on the force plate look like the lower body is active very active and early which I love I now look at the 3D look at her kinematic sequence and the sequence is perfect If I had to guess right now you hurt yourself sleeping or doing something and then the sleep perpetuated all this because this is very efficient I mean the force we could always make these better So don’t get me wrong and I know you’re not back to 100% yet but the things that piss off shoulders lower backs you’re not doing any of them So I really think she hurt her shoulder and then what she did is she compounded the problem by not letting it recover at night Your back’s a little arched in the back swing a little bit Has anybody ever said that to you i’m not in the back swing but I have been told that in setup I get a little You have about 33 degrees and most players are around 20 But you get rid of it at impact which is great It goes away You’re not early extending You’re not moving towards the ball which creates all kinds of problems I just know the numbers are only going to get higher as she starts to practice more So the good news here is I’m really leaning towards the swing was not the problem I don’t want to make something up You know what I mean so your hip to shoulder separation is 31 degrees to the top of the back swing On average most players is 45 So they have a lot more torque than you do Now what you do though is you create a lot of that twist on the down swing So you go from 31 to almost 39 So you you increase the stretch during the down swing which is a more aggressive way to do it but it’s not excessive Most players separate their upper body from the lower body about 45° So that means the pelvis turns 45 degrees in the back swing but the shoulders turn 90° Cara’s only 31 degrees So she actually has less than most people So I don’t see that as a factor of creating torque Now a lot of players because their lower body starts the down swing they increase that torque on the down swing And she is just like most players does that And she increases it by about 8° on the down swing But again I I think it’s below any of the ranges that would make me nervous of creating stress to the body I almost feel like this is an area where we could actually make more range for more speed in the future But right I think we got enough information here for me to say uh let’s start practicing Okay because there’s no there was no like oh my god I can’t let you do this We got to fix this first type of thing I I don’t see that which is great cuz I was worried we were going to see that I actually think we put the right medical team around You change your sleeping you’re you’re back pretty quick Actually one of Kiara’s main goals here is to move from the ladies European tour to the LPGA right and to get there uh one of the easiest ways is to go to qualifying school go to Q school right because of this injury she you know she’s at that point now where we only have a few months left to really start ramping up and get ready for Q school in the fall So really this is this is an important juncture now if we’re going to try and make LPJ this year to get her back healthy and swinging as fast as possible Normally what we see players get to the top of the back swing right before the top of the back swing Usually what we see is we see a lateral force first You start pushing side to side first This is what most players do So you’ll see a lateral then what they start to do is to shallow the club they rock If you twist first sometimes the club gets steep So they usually rock then they start to twist and then they jump and then that’s what accelerates the club Right so the first thing we look at is is that’s your normal what we call kinetic sequence Do you go lateral rock twist jump and then how much do you do your lateral is definitely first Okay And it goes right right before the top of the back swing which is perfect which I love You can see the first yellow dot is is the top one That’s lateral You go lateral first Now on this la this swing right here the second thing you did was you twisted So you went lateral twist then you did rock and then you did jump So that kinetic sequence there was a little out that you twisted before you rocked The twisting depends on how much you twist would make the club go steep and then you’d try to shallow by rock You twisted a little early but you didn’t do a lot It was like a little there was just like a little like a baby twist there So it really didn’t get you in trouble and your rock was actually more than your twist and it brought the club on plane So I look at that and I saw we looked at four of your force plates Three of them rock was before twist This was the only one where twist was before rock So I’m like I’m not worried about it I think it’s okay Your rock brought it back to where I need it And then what’s really important on your on your forces is your last one right here vertical You’re pushing at 171% of your body weight Average on LPGA is 168 You’re 171 So you’re actually without like any practice anything you’ve already created probably more vertical force than most of our LPGA Which is why when you said I think I was the longest one I believe you because that’s inc that’s really really good and you’re doing this around shaft vertical Like I want you to do this early If it’s late then there’s not enough time to get to the club So I look at that and I go okay I think you know how to create force Now I go can you transfer it through your body right so you create these forces Now what you should do is this Your lower body should start to rotate first The ground forces make your lower body rotate Then you should transfer to your trunk Then you should transfer to your arms And then transfer to the club In that sequence right the red is your lower body The green’s your trunk the blue is your arm and the yellow the brown is the club So notice your lower body when it goes up that’s how fast it’s twisting It rotates fast but the trunk rotates faster The trunk is fast but the arm is faster The arm’s fast but the club’s the fastest So you’re gaining energy It kind of has to be right it doesn’t have to be I’ve seen players that do really bad So that wouldn’t probably end that well You wouldn’t be one of the longest hitters for So I look at that and I go “Okay check one is she’s taking energy from here to here to here and it’s gaining as it goes through.” The next thing we look at too is we say “Okay so what’s the sequence now does your lower body go first then your trunk goes second?” And you can notice here the red the red from left to right peaks first Uhhuh Then the green peaks second then the blue peaks third That means so that kind of follows that kind of sequence That’s that’s your kinematic sequence That’s your kinetic sequence Kinetic sequence is the sequence how you create the forces The kinematics is how you transfer through your body That’s perfect I’m like when the energ when you start over here it’s like you know how to crack the whip right so I look at that and I’m like if that was off and you were like all upper body I’d be like well no wonder your shoulder hurts You’re just using your upper body and not using your not So technically speaking me practicing should not be making things worse Whatever you guys are doing is working right you’re in the right place Okay so that so that that’s number one A lot of times I’m like wait what are you guys doing because this is horrible Like this this is great Right so Cameron’s going to like this Like that that’s great Then the second thing I’m telling you is that as long as your body’s healthy these you should be able to transfer through your body But if you’re pissing off your shoulder at night I don’t care what you do it’s going to aggravate when you swing Yeah Right So I think if we can get the the injury away that’s not going to create more injury That’s the most I don’t know how to make that more efficient It looks really efficient right from the how she creates the force to how she transfers it through her body So I’m really not fearful about her swinging right now if she feels comfortable Of course we’ll slowly progress all the way up to a driver but uh I think I’m ready to give her the green light and we’ll see how it goes And I think like I said I think we get the right medical team around you treating you You start swinging this This stuff’s in the past Now just remember you’re a professional athlete How often should you be getting treated even if you were healthy well I once a week was what I was doing Uh I never did more For our goal is to get back to Q school get back to playing as fast as possible I need to treat you like a tour player And tour players get treated a lot more than once a week typically I’m just telling you that’s not what the best in the world do Really how often would should I be doing uh most of the best players in the world get treated before and after each other rounds They have the that’s why they have people that travel with them right most players have manual therapists whether it’s a chiropractor physical therapist osteobat who follows them and treats them sometimes even before they play and after they play Most of our players are getting treatments three to five times a week Whoever feels like they didn’t play the day before has an advantage Mhm That should be your whole goal is to make it feel like you didn’t play the day before But I wish I can get you guys when you’re young 18 like start doing this now because name another sport that you can make millions into your 60s That’s a big advantage if you feel fresh Your recovery team your medical team is really important I really feel like putting the right team around her getting some good good treatment is going to be a key to her success I’ve never been here before It’s my first time in California Um and I’ve only ever been to the Europe basis so this is really cool for me Um obviously I’ve seen it a lot on social media and you know this has got like golfing heaven for anybody Um it’s a beautiful facility Was able to do some putting chipping kind of um last few days and next few days Um and then being able to get geared up and get some really good insight was really amazing I’ve been dealing with a shoulder injury for a while now And I was in contact with Greg about obviously trying to get good treatment out in the area and trying to get healthy again But one of the big questions was am I ready to get back to swinging and is my golf swing making things worse um luckily it’s not so I’m good to sort of pull the trigger and get back to it I was hoping that it would be good news and that I would be able to go back to practice Obviously you never want to hear “Hey you’re doing this thing terribly in your golf swing and you know you can’t play right now cuz you know you’re doing it wrong.” But obviously hearing good news is great Um I’m happy with what was said so I’m good Oh yeah I’m so excited Obviously a long way to go I’ve got so much rehab left to do but knowing that what I’m doing in the golf swing is not making things worse is really important So it was a pleasure working with Kiara today Really one of the best young female phenoms I’ve seen in golf in a while So really impressive watching her swing I think the key takeaways here it’s really important when you’re coming back from an injury to make sure that your swing is not part of the problem because you can spend all this time doing rehab feeling great and then two swings later you’re like you feel like you’re right back to where you started Kiara had this nagging shoulder/spine injury So she did the right thing Instead of guessing she came in she got assessed We figured out that her swing really wasn’t the perpetuating cause of this injury We think it’s more related to maybe not getting enough treatment and the way she sleeps and not getting the recovery that we’re looking for But at least now we feel comfortable that she’s on the path to recovery and she can get back to swinging as fast as possible What you never want a player to have is doubt right if they’re doubting like hey I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing Is this going to come back there’s the fear component there So by going through this rigorous testing I think number one it gives us confidence but it gives the player confidence that they’ve done everything they need possible and they can get back to just swinging freely because that’s that’s the goal