How to avoid tennis injuries this summer
The sun is coming …
Wimbledon is almost upon us …
You are reaching for the old wooden tennis racquets from the loft …
And it’s time to discuss how to avoid tennis injuries this year!
The most common tennis injuries
There is something that happens in your head. You see Andy Murray or Roger Federer on the telly, and your mind quickly awakens your inner tennis pro.
You desperately ring around for an available court and coerce a good friend or your reluctant partner to give you a game.
With tennis being a racket sport you might expect that your most probable injuries would be to your wrists, shoulders or the dreaded tennis elbow.
The reality is, however, that most injuries occur in the lower body and the lower back. The back is often affected because of the rigid posture you adopt for most of the day in the office.
The knees, hips, and ankles are at risk due to the quick changes of directions and fast starts as you try desperately to accommodate for the inadequate crosscourt forehands.
The best ways to avoid common tennis injuries
If you now think you might get into Wimbledon fever, plan to have your equipment sorted in advance.
The correct grip:
One of the key factors for avoiding injuries to the elbow and wrist is to make sure that your racket has the right grip size for the size of your hand.
Try wrapping your hand around the handle of the racket. There should be enough room for the index finger of your free hand to fit between the fingers and your thumb on the hand gripping the racket. If the handle is too small you can buy some thicker grip to pad out the handle.
If the handle is too big borrow one that is a more suitable size for you.
The proper warm up:
In the old days, recreational players would warm up with what is known as static stretches. These typically involve holding a static pose for a few seconds to lengthen out a particular muscle.
These days, however, dynamic flexibility is far more in vogue. There isn’t space to describe it in full here, but the key principles of dynamic flexibility is that by stretching on the move, you encourage the muscle to move through its full range of movement.
Dynamic flexibility has the added bonus of raising the body’s core temperature, which is also critical in helping to avoid injury. It’s worth having a look around Youtube to see examples of dynamic flexibility movements in action.
Proper biomechanics:
Above all, it is always worth getting in a couple of sneaky lessons. One of the biggest causes of injury is bad biomechanics. There are probably some fundamental errors in your swing that an LTA certified coach could soon iron out.
We hope this information is useful for you. If you have any questions about our treatments, please contact us. You can find us in Mill Hill Broadway and Islington. If you like this blog, please share!
We are always happy to help.
