Tennis Anyone?

Sport & Activities Directory Article { by: Dr. Jonathan C. Hersch }

Tennis is a complex sport that requires good hand eye coordination and full body participation to run, position, swing and hit. A successful tennis player must possess the ability to exert muscular force at high speeds, obtain a strong grip in his or her hand, generate strong rotation of the shoulders and sudden changes of direction and body position while running at high speeds. These combined movements can result in injury. Endurance, flexibility and muscle conditioning exercises are important to prevent such injuries.

Tennis injuries are of 2 broad types. Traumatic injuries such as sprains, muscle pulls, and fractures make up about one third of tennis injuries. Most of these occur in the lower extremities. These injuries can occur as random occurrences and are often not preventable. Overuse injuries, such as sprains, tendonitis and low back pain account for two thirds of tennis injuries and occur in all areas of the body. Most of these can be minimized or prevented entirely by proper conditioning, proper technique, appropriate equipment, and seeking medical attention for persistent painful conditions in a timely fashion.

One of the keys to prevention of injury is the proper warm-up. Contrary to popular belief it is the warm-up; not static stretching that increases performance and reduces injury. Stretching should occur after a match or practice. An active warm-up increases the temperature of muscles and joints to allow maximal performance.

The principles of an active warm-up are a gradual increase in intensity of muscle contraction with progression from general to support specific activity. Tennis players should begin with whole body movements such as walking, bicycling or jogging at low to moderate intensity for 5 to 10 minutes. More specific activities include trunk rotations, lunges, and racquet swings followed by some light hitting and progression to play.

If tennis injuries persist then one must look at all aspects of his or her game. Proper conditioning, training, equipment and technique are all important to be successful at tennis. Evaluation by a tennis instructor and sports medicine specialist may help you get back in your game, having fun while being injury free!