We are all familiar with the world-famous sport - Tennis- a high-impact sport demanding full-body participation while running, serving, and attaining different positions while performing on the court. Because of these demands, the player must maintain strength, flexibility, and muscle conditioning to prevent injury. Lack of conditioning, overtraining, and inappropriate techniques of performing a specific task during the game can lead to injuries. However, these injuries can be minimized by doing a proper warm-up before playing to prepare your muscles for the demands of the game. During Sports, our body is under a lot of pressure, sometimes leading to wear and tear in the muscles, joints, and bones. Your physiotherapist can treat sports injuries well; he/she helps you recover rapidly and provides some education on preventing further injuries. In this article, I will provide you with common types of injuries tennis players suffer and their prevention strategies.
Prevention of Tennis Injuries:
Warm-up your body
Start with a brisk walk for ten minutes, then move on to stretching exercises to condition your muscles and prevent muscle cramps. It is also advisable to gently stretch and warm up by doing a standing hamstring stretch, standing calf stretch, hip adductor stretch, and low back stretching. Hold the stretch for ten seconds and repeat ten times. Finally, rotate your shoulders and wrists in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction ten times each.
Keeping body Hydrated
Staying hydrated is essential as it increases stamina, speed, and concentration. In extreme cases, dehydration may cause nausea and vomiting.
Typical forms of Tennis injuries are as follows:
Shoulder Impingement
Rotator cuff injuries and shoulder impingement occur due to the repetitive overhead movement required to serve and hit the ball. These repetitive movements demand high levels of muscular control, which is required to maintain the stability of the shoulder joint during tennis strokes.
Golfer's elbow
Tennis elbow injury occurs in the tendons on the elbow's outer side. This overuse and overload occurs from the serve and forehand strokes, whereas pain on the inside of the elbow is caused by excessive use of topspin and overload on the backhand stroke. The racquet must be of the proper size for gripping.
Wrist strain
These injuries occur due to the laid-back grip, palm rotation upward, and quick wrist turning to perform the topspin.
Lower Back pain
Players suffer from low back pain due to the fast weight transfers, jumping, and twisting, resulting in repeated flexion, extension, rotation, and lateral flexion of the spine commonly required during cocking or loading phase of the tennis serve. The physiotherapist designs strengthening exercises for the back and abdominal muscles to increase strength.
Hip Pain and impingement
Labral tears
Tennis players can have Impingement and labral tears due to their multidirectional movement pattern, which involves loading and abruptly starting, cutting, twisting, and stopping. This form of hip injury can be treated with physiotherapy sessions.
Patella tendinopathy
Medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain
Calf strain
Rectus femoris strain
Lower legs tend to bear most of the pressure, as players are often required to perform sudden movements and shift their balance. When a muscle is overstretched, it becomes prone to tears. The tennis player needs to constantly twist, turn, and change speed; therefore, both the patella tendon below the kneecap and the medial ligament inside it can be easily damaged.
If damaged, it is important to stop immediately and treat the knee with Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation (RICE). Braces, kinesiotaping, and physiotherapy should follow.
Sprained Ankle
Ankles are the most commonly injured joints. When the ligament supporting the joint gets overstretched due to repeated jumping, stepping on an uneven surface, or incorrect stepping, the joint becomes inflamed.
The most severe form of the injury requires a brace or cast for a few weeks to help in the healing process. Physical activity worsens the pain, which is usually treated with rest, ice, and physiotherapy.
After playing tennis, a simple warm-down helps breathing and heart rate return to normal levels, causing muscles to relax. It also reduces the risk of post-exercise soreness by removing lactic acid from your muscles. After relaxing, take 5-minute walks followed by stretches carried out during your warm-up and drink plenty of water.
Your treatment will depend upon the nature of your injury. Your physiotherapist will work to relieve the painful symptoms and help to restore function so that you can return to sports without pain. They will also provide you with proactive advice to avoid similar situations that put you at risk of injury in the future.
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