If you’re a tennis player and are keen to prevent tennis injuries, then this is the blog for you, full of information about common tennis injuries and, more importantly, how to help prevent them getting between you and the perfect game, set and match.
Benefits of tennis
Playing tennis is a great way to keep fit and active and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Not only does it help build muscle and stamina, but because it’s a sport where you are constantly moving, changing direction and stretching your body, it can also improve your agility and flexibility too. Add to that the fact that tennis offers a full body work out with every game you play, and there’s no doubt that tennis is a great all-rounder of a sport.
Low risk sport
Tennis is also one of the safest sports in the world with a low risk of serious injuries. However, with repetitive motions and quick accelerations and changes of direction involved in play, tennis can cause stress and strain on the body, as well as injuries.
Causes of tennis injuries
Whether you are just a beginner or an avid tennis player, players of all ages and levels can experience back, neck, wrist or hand pain. For those just starting out, this can be from not having a strong enough muscles or a poor technique. Tennis injuries also occur as a result of overuse or trauma. Overuse injuries most often affect your arms where you perform many repetitive actions at your shoulders, elbows and wrists. Acute overuse injuries also affect your low back, knees or ankles. While movements such as continuous acceleration and deceleration, twisting motions, overhead serves, and groundstrokes can cause injuries to the knees, back, ankles, elbows, and shoulders.
Common tennis injuries
Here is a list of the most common tennis injuries:
1. Lower back pain
Lower back injuries, such as muscle strains and disc herniation are common in people who regularly play tennis. They can be caused by awkward movements, twisting motions, and bending down to pick up the ball.
2. Sprained Ankle
Ankle sprains are often the result of a faulty step while chasing down a ball or pivoting to change directions quickly and are common in tennis players.
3. Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is an injury caused by repetitive and forceful movements at the wrist, especially when hitting backhand shots. The condition causes a range of symptoms, including pain on the outer elbow, wrist weakness, tenderness, difficulty extending the forearm fully, and pain when lifting, gripping, or carrying objects.
4. Tennis shoulder and rotator cuff injuries
The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons surrounding the shoulder joint, keeping the upper arm bone secure in the shoulder socket. Rotator cuff injuries can occur as a result of the excessive force on the tendons, especially during the serve and overhead strokes. Tennis shoulder is commonly an overuse injury to tendons in the shoulder, as a result of poor conditioning and strength of the rotator cuff muscles. Swinging a tennis racquet repetitively, especially overhead activity including serving, can lead to inflammation of tendons which leads to prolonged, painful symptoms around the shoulder area and weakness of the shoulder muscles.
5. Shoulder imbalance
Shoulder imbalances are another common tennis injury. This condition is often caused when the muscles on the front of the shoulder and chest become stronger and shorter than the muscles at the back of the shoulder, as a result of unbalanced training regimes.
6. Tennis leg
Often caused by sudden contraction of the calf muscles when sprinting, calf strain, also known as ‘tennis leg’, is a tear or rupture of the muscle at the top of the calf. Symptoms are a sudden, sharp or burning pain in the leg sometimes accompanied by an audible sound.
How to prevent tennis injuries
As mentioned above, tennis is a very safe sport with most injuries being overuse injuries. However, whether you’re picking up a tennis racket for the first time or have been enjoying the sport for years, to avoid any unnecessary strain, pain and injuries, you still need to take care of your body whilst you’re playing.
For our top tips on how to avoid tennis injuries, see below:
1. Get strong
Make sure your body is strong enough to cope with the impact of tennis. Work on building up good core strength as well as shoulder and arm strength to protect yourself from injury.
2. Warm up and cool down
The best way of warming up when you play tennis, is…. to play tennis. Go through steady rallies with your opponent playing at 50% intensity varying your shots and your court position before you start playing a proper game. Be sure to stretch out and cool down after a game too to decrease the risk of muscle and joint injuries.
3. Ease yourself in
If you are new to the world of tennis make sure you ease your body into each game as overexertion and fatigue are some of the most common causes of injury. So, if you’re a beginner, start off playing shorter matches to help build up your stamina.
4. Keep it loose
Make sure your clothing is loose and comfortable and provides support where required- especially for your feet. When playing a tennis game, you will be on your feet for long periods of time, so supportive tennis shoes that fit well are a must. Look for shoes that have skid-resistant soles, high arch supports and help prevent ankle rolling.
5. The right equipment
Make sure you use a racquet that is the right size and weight and suitable for your skill level to help avoid shoulder / elbow injuries. Ensuring the grip is the right size is also important, as if it’s too large or too small it will increase the risk of an elbow injury as you have to grip the racquet too tightly to prevent it from twisting when hitting the ball.
6. Work on your technique
Poor serving and swinging will increase your chance of injury, especially to your shoulder and elbow. Consider taking lessons from a LTA coach to help you perfect your technique.
7. Rest and recover
Tennis matches require lots of exertion so be sure to allow yourself sufficient rest and recovery time between sessions. This will also mean overuse injuries will be less likely to occur.
8. All about the court
Many people forget to think about the tennis court surface that they’re playing on and how it can affect them. Courts with hard surfaces and ‘no give’, such as cement, asphalt and synthetic courts are much harder on our knees so try and play on a ‘softer’ court if you experience problems with your knees. If you have to play on hard surfaces, try wearing heel inserts or padded tennis socks to help with shock absorption and protect your lower back.
9. Keep hydrated and energised
Keep your water levels topped up by having a bottle of water by your side at all times. A sports drink will also ensure that you have enough carbohydrates to endure that final tiebreak.
10. Respect injuries
If you’re experiencing significant pain during or after playing, it’s time to get professional advice. This may not necessarily mean stopping playing, but just reducing your load and exposure as your body heals.
How we can help
Some of the world’s top tennis players are regularly treated by chiropractors and osteopaths to help improve their game, including Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. This is because techniques used by chiropractors and osteopaths such as manual therapy, soft tissue therapy, joint mobilisation, acupuncture and exercise advice can help not only relieve pain but also improve your range of motion, flexibility, and overall body balance. So, if the tips above don’t help keep any tennis related aches and pains at bay, or if you would like make sure you’re in top shape for your next game, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch for an appointment.