Ouch! The classic way of starting a blog on injury
prevention. That being said, I rarely meet a competitive tennis player that has
never, ever had something hurt. More than being sore- don’t be a baby. Tennis
players have the luxury of being one of the few sports that cause the most
self-inflicting damage. While we aren’t tackled by our opponents and don’t take
our gloves off in order to punch each other (I guess hockey would be a fairly
uncommon sport in Florida, my apologies), the wear and tear of our sport can do
some harm if precautions aren’t taken. Take, for example, the continuous impact
of the hard court surface and what it does to a player’s knees and shins. Or,
think of the probability of twisting an ankle when running in almost every
direction with short bursts of explosion and the necessity for a quick change
of direction that the sport requires. Then, take the grueling impact on
shoulders, elbows, and wrists that is required to swing a racquet, below and
above your head. Back, abs, and hips have some liability when overuse and a
slight move in the wrong direction can tweak those large muscles. Pretty much,
we’ve hit every single part of our body in tennis that can eventually succumb
to painful injury- because tennis is a year round sport, oftentimes tennis
players are seen playing through numerous injuries. Bad. Very, very bad.
But that doesn’t help, does it, just to say playing through
injuries is not a good idea. Once injured, RICE is the best option- rest, ice,
compression, elevation. Sometimes, especially when muscles spasm, warmth is
better than ice. Applying a heat pack to relax the muscle can be beneficial. If
the urge to play is so great that even an injury does not stop you, wrapping
the injury is an option. This prevents the limb from moving in its full range,
and adds compression that helps inflammation subside. That being said, you kind
of need to know what you are doing in order for the wrap to work. Just rolling
up your ankle in globs of athletic tape won’t do anything. If you don’t have an
onsite trainer (all tournaments have them), handy dandy Google can help you
with the wrap of your choice. Odds are, your coach will know how to wrap the
injury too. Other, more obscure ways of treating injuries include electric
stimulation (pads that adhere to your skin and send electric pulses to the area
to a) relax the muscle and b) send more blood flow to the area), grastin
(metallic stubby knife looking things that are used by a certified trainer to
enhance blood flow to the area- as a person whose stubborn injuries were
alleviated by this method, I am a huge perpetuator of this method, although it
is painful), and orthotics (again, as a person with weird flat feet, I can
attest to the benefits of custom orthotics that are placed into the sneaker to
lift or support the arch in the foot. This can even change your gait and
posture).
Contrary to many beliefs, stretching can sometimes do more
harm than good to an injured muscle. It’s one of the best ways to PREVENT injury,
but not a great idea to do with, say, a pulled muscle. A pulled muscle is
already, well, stretched. Spasms, however, do need to be stretched. Exercising
also doesn’t seem to be a viable solution for an injury, but can be
surprisingly helpful when injured. If, say, I pulled my quadriceps, I would
strengthen my hamstrings, the muscle that works in tandem with my quadriceps,
in physical therapy. Speaking of balance in muscle strength, keep in mind when
working out that any muscle workout you do has to be in balance with the muscle
that it works with. For example, while rock solid abs are both attractive and
beneficial for tennis, strengthening your abs without strengthening your back
muscle can be very dangerous- you are setting yourself up for a very bad strain
to your back. A weaker muscle that works in tandem with a stronger muscle is at
risk of injury constantly because the stronger muscle overworks the weaker one.
Another thing to keep in mind is that tennis players naturally gain strength in
certain areas, and so a gym workout should focus on those areas that need
improvement off the court. Some of these areas include pectoral muscles, which
are shortened by the strength in a tennis player’s shoulders, and hip flexors
and the groin muscle, both of which are often underdeveloped in a tennis player
compared to their quads and hamstrings (hamstrings, by the way, are often much
weaker in tennis players than their quads- at a much younger me point in time I
was able to lift 80 pounds with my quadriceps but only 40 with my hamstrings, a
worrisome difference).
Injuries aren’t any fun. That’s why you should be reading
this next section, which is on injury prevention. Injury prevention is the
unsung hero of tennis, and unfortunately is often left out of grueling
practices where it is most necessary. There are certain things that you can do
while you are playing that will help both your game and your fitness and injury
prevention. This is a very simple idea- the fitter you are, the better
protected you are from injury. A strong muscle will take longer to fatigue and
will stay under control for longer. It’s important too though not to overwork a
muscle, since this shortens the muscle instead of creating the long and lean
but strong desired effect. Other things to prevent injuries, in laundry list
style (digression in parentheses- why do they call it a laundry list? I’d think
it would be more of a grocery list, wouldn’t it? Anyways…):
·
Stretch (not for two seconds on each leg- at
least 20 minutes with each stretch lastly around 15 to 20 seconds at the least)
·
Yoga (aka a long stretch- it builds stamina
too!)
·
Keeping your center of gravity low (or, in
layman’s terms, bend your knees!)
·
Maintain correct technique on all shots
·
Ice tub (for overworked muscles and cramping)
·
Hydrate (dehydration in a dilapidating injury),
preferably with coconut water or Pedialyte (see my nutrition blog)
·
For the sake of your tennis game, your mental
state, and your physical well being, if something hurts even though you took
the necessary steps to help it (ice, compression, ect.), take a break. It’s better to take two days off after a pulled
muscle then playing through it and having to take 6 months off for a tear. I’ve
seen this happen to tennis players and I’ve had it happen to me as well. No
matter what you have to be true to yourself and your physical well being-
that’s more important than a tennis match will ever be.
And on that point, tootles until next time!
