Tennis is an intricate sport requiring extensive physical movement from its participants. By seeking guidance and education from tennis coaches, trainers, and health professionals, injuries may be avoided.
Avoiding overexertion and replenishing fluids during play are both effective strategies for avoiding injury, while working with a good tennis coach to analyze your technique and correct any shortcomings in it.
Muscle Strains
Tennis is an exciting and challenging game that demands quick movements in all directions, placing immense stress on muscles and joints. Over time, this can result in injuries such as muscle strains and sprains; muscle strains typically occur when an overstretched muscle tears; mild strains typically only affect one or two fibers and heal within several weeks with no noticeable loss in strength; while severe strains could damage or tear several muscle fibers simultaneously and take much longer to recover from.
Tennis players are particularly susceptible to muscle strains in their hamstrings and calves due to all of the jumping and running they must do, so warming up with stretching exercises before each match can help avoid these types of injuries.
Wrist injuries are another recurring complication among tennis players, as their wrist tendons must endure high loads from impacts with the ball, along with repeated extension/flexion motions when swinging their racket. Over time, this may result in strain injuries to muscles and tendons connecting fingers/thumb/hand to other parts of their bodies.
Overuse injuries account for almost half of all tennis injuries, which occur when repetitive actions place strain on muscles, joints, and tissues. This could include practicing too often or repeating certain activities without appropriate training, stretching, hydration and equipment – often the upper body including shoulder, elbow wrists and hands are most affected.
Tendinopathy of the Knee (TKB), is a condition caused by overstretching and irritation to tendons attaching your kneecap (patella) to lower leg bones, and results in pain, swelling, and the sensation that your kneecap might dislocate or lock when exercising. But you can avoid TKB by stretching and warming up prior to playing tennis matches, taking regular breaks between sets, strengthening both your calf muscles and knee muscles and increasing stretching before exercise sessions.
Tendon Injuries
Tennis players frequently suffer tendon injuries from repetitive high-load movements like sprinting across the court, changing direction or reaching for balls. These movements put undue stress on all kinds of tendons within your body – those connecting your feet and knees; those which extend and bend your wrist; as well as supporting shoulder movement. Without adequate strengthening of these tendons, overuse injury and strain are likely outcomes.
Tendon injuries include ligament tears or sprains such as those occurring to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee, muscle pulls in calf, thigh and groin areas as well as strains in back and abdomen regions. Overuse injuries to wrist tendons (tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis) often arise as they support repetitive racket swinging motions during playing a match; they’re also susceptible to overuse injuries from using too little shoulder strengthening in tennis players! Rotator Cuff injuries often arise as a result.
Tennis players often sustain back injuries by exaggerating an arched, or swaybacked posture used to generate power during serving and other power strokes. Over time this repeated motion may cause stiffening of their spine as well as degenerative changes to small joints and soft tissue in their back.
Jumper’s Knee, commonly seen in tennis, can occur due to repetitive high-impact movements of the game. To reduce risk, moderate your workout intensity while including low impact exercises as part of a pregame warm up routine and use of proper stretching prior to game play. Ice and stretching post-game can also help speed the healing of cartilage damage in the knees. Speak with your physiotherapist or athletic trainer about specific strengthening and conditioning programs designed to maintain healthy joints in the knees, hips, ankles, and back. By doing so, this may also decrease the risk of overuse injuries such as sprains and strains to these tissues. Acute injuries like sprains and tears should be managed initially with rest or activity modification followed by consulting a sports medicine specialist who will assess any damaged tissues before prescribing rehabilitation programs to return them back to full functionality.
Shoulder Injuries
The shoulder joint is an intricate system and susceptible to injury. Many injuries experienced by tennis players come from overusing it – for instance reaching overhead to hit or return serves. Overuse can cause impingement wherein the tendons which run at the top of their shoulder joint (such as biceps tendon and rotator cuff) become pinched by repeated overhead actions; this condition often appears when tennis players, or other sportspeople engage in repetitive overhead actions that strain the shoulder.
Tennis elbow is another common overuse injury, wherein the muscles and tendons that straighten your wrist become inflamed due to overuse and may develop tiny tears due to strain. While tennis elbow may be painful, most shoulder and elbow injuries can be prevented through training, stretching, and proper recovery from playing tennis.
If you want to learn how to prevent tennis injuries and improve your game, reach out to one of Manhattan Orthopedic Care’s specialists immediately!
Astounded by the power generated by top-level professional tennis players is hard to comprehend; they generate up to 120% of their bodyweight when striking the ball! Although rotator cuffs are designed to absorb such shocks, repeated impact may wear down their structure over time and cause injuries.
Tennis players commonly experience shoulder tendinopathy (i.e., inflammation of the tendons), which often results from repetitive overhead activities and can lead to issues with either their rotator cuff or bursa. Common symptoms are pain when reaching overhead while playing tennis but also during everyday tasks.
Therefore, when playing tennis it is essential that your physical training and rest periods are carefully managed. Overtraining increases risk of injury as well as diminishes motivation to continue participating. Rest can be one of the most effective treatments for many shoulder injuries and even reduced playing time can help bring relief.
Wrist Injuries
Tennis requires exceptional wrist and hand strength in order to generate forces necessary for various strokes, and this combination of power and precise control may lead to overuse injuries of the wrist. These injuries can typically be diagnosed using an MRI or CT scan but often present symptoms such as pain, swelling and tenderness that need medical treatment.
Sprains of the wrist occur when supporting ligaments are stretched or torn, typically when players twist or bend their wrist excessively during a stroke, use their outstretched hand to break a fall, or attempt to use their outstretched arm as an outstretched barrier against injury. Players are most vulnerable to this type of injury during serve, backhand, and forehand strokes.
ECU tendonitis, also referred to as pinky or ulnar tendonitis, occurs when repetitive overloading causes inflamation to the wrist tendon on either pinky or ulnar side of hand. Often caused during forehand groundstroke with topspin grip that places wrist in excessive ulnar deviation; can also occur with double-handed backhand strokes and double-handed forehand. Ongoing injury to this tendon can result in tenosynovitis similar to carpal tunnel syndrome that affects not only tennis players but pianists, office workers, fly fishers alike.
The Hamate Bone (commonly referred to as the Hook of the Hamate) is one of the most frequently seen wrist fractures among tennis injuries patients. Located between the Ring and Little Finger Metacarpals on the palm side of the wrist, its distal aspect connects to transverse carpal ligament in the palm. Impact from falls or repeated stress may cause this bone to break.
As with shoulder and elbow injuries, many tennis-related wrist injuries can be avoided with proper training, conditioning and technique. Players should avoid overexertion and ensure adequate rest between matches and practices; exercises designed to strengthen wrist muscles should also be performed regularly to prevent excessive strain. It may be beneficial to visit an orthopedic specialist should over-the-counter pain relievers fail to alleviate pain or swelling effectively.