Defining Arm Movements
On this site and others, you will come across folks explaining the golf swing and certain movements using anatomic terms of motion. It’s useful to know what these terms mean when, for example, your latest golf tip is to keep your trail arm extended longer on the takeaway or that you might want to keep your lead wrist slightly flexed through impact. Below, with the assistance of the wonderful magic of free internet images, we’ll review the terminology for movements of the arm.
Wrist Movements:
The center two positions have the wrist in neutral.
Wrist flexion occurs when bending the palm toward the forearm (top left), and wrist extension occurs when bending the back of the hand toward the forearm (top right).
Radial and ulnar deviation occur when the wrist bends sideways, perpendicular to the direction of flexion and extension. Radial deviation (bottom left) is when the wrist bends sideways toward the thumb side / toward the radius, and ulnar deviation (bottom right) is when the wrist bends sideways toward the pinky side / toward the ulna.
Forearm pronation and supination:
Here the bones of your forearm (the radius on the thumb side, and the ulna on the pinky side) rotate over each other.
In this image, imagine you are face to face with a person — let’s call him, I don’t know, “Tiger Woods” for the search engine optimization — and pictured is his left arm as while it’s down at his side. (by “his” I mean “Tiger Woods,” not “Phil Mickelson,” nor “Brooks Koepka,” nor “Rory McIlroy”).
In neutral his thumbs point straight at you. With supination, the palm spins toward you and toward the front of “Tiger Woods.” With pronation, the palm spins away from you and toward the rear of “Tiger Woods.”
Tiger. Woods.
Elbow flexion and extension:
Occasionally also referred to as “arm” extension or flexion. Flexion decreases the angle at the elbow, extension is the opposite.
(When might you see such movements occur during a golf swing? Good question. At such events including but not limited to The Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. What golfer might exhibit some amount of elbow flexion and extension somewhere in their golf swing? Great question. All of them. Especially “Tiger Woods”).
Shoulder abduction and adduction:
Abduction is lifting the arm up to the side away from the body. Adduction is the opposite.
Shoulder flexion and extension:
Flexion is lifting the arm up straight in front of you. Extension is in the opposite direction.
Shoulder internal and external rotation:
Easiest to grasp when the elbow is bent. Internal rotation of the shoulder brings the arm in toward the body. External rotation is the opposite.
Putting it all together
Let’s recap some of these key movements in the context of a proper fist pump. In the windup phase (left) the right shoulder is about neutral in internal/external rotation as well abducted up to the side. The elbow is flexed, the forearm is about neutral in pronation/supination, and the wrist is about neutral. The key move in the windup phase is shoulder abduction which generates the power and momentum. In the finish phase (right), the shoulder is flexed, the elbow is flexed, the forearm is now supinated, and the wrist is flexed. And that’s how it’s done.
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