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Each year, more than 8,900 tennis-related injuries to youths under age 15 are treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms.

The total cost of tennis-related injuries was more than $75 million in 1997. (Includes medical, legal and liability, work loss and pain and suffering costs.)

Many tennis injuries can be reduced through proper conditioning and training, equipment selection, proper care of the court, and adherence to the rules of the game. Follow these guidelines to Play It Safe:

• Warm-up for five or ten minutes before playing-warm-ups can be as simple as jogging around the court. Stop when you begin to perspire.

• Follow the warm-up by stretching the major muscle groups. This includes stretching the hamstring, shoulder, and lower back. After playing, cool down.

• To avoid cramps and stiffness, have an adequate intake of fluids before, during, and after play. In hot humid weather, a player must drink a lot of water. Drink 20 oz of water 30 minutes before a match and on every other change-over drink small amounts to keep hydrated. Then at night drink more water. This not only prevents illness but will improve judgement, stamina, timing and attitude on the court. However, large amounts of water should not be taken at any one time, since this can make a player feel uncomfortable.

• Specially designed supports are available for the wrist, elbow, and knee to absorb shock.

• Avoid playing on surfaces with no "give", such as cement, asphalt, or synthetic courts. To prevent lower back injuries when playing tennis on hard surface courts, wear heel inserts to absorb the shock.

• To prevent injury to the ankle, wear tennis shoes with good support. For added support wear two pairs of socks or a support sock.

• To prevent blisters, dry the racket handle by dabbing it with sawdust or powdered chalk. Wear terry cloth wristbands, to absorb perspiration. To treat a blisher: with the help of a sterile needle, puncture the blister on the side, apply an anti-biotic ointment and then cover the wound  with a sterile band-aid.

• Do not throw the racket or ball, or walk across someone's court while play is in progress. Try to stop balls before they roll into another court.

• Do not arch your back unnecessarily when you serve or try to make an overhead shot. Bend your knees and raise the heels, so upper body weight is evenly balanced over your heels. The best remedy for back pain is rest.

• Quick stops and starts can result in mild ankle sprains. The ankle should be rested, with intermittent icing. Compression bandages can be used on the sprain, which should be elevated for at least 48 hours or until the swelling is gone.

• To avoid re-injuring hamstring and abdominal muscles, players with sprains or strains, should not return to activity until pain has subsided and muscle flexibility and strength are fully regained.

• Avoid landing on the ball of the foot at the same time the body's weight is thrown backward, which could result injury to the Achilles tendon.

• Plantar fasciitis can occur if the foot is overused. Rest is the best remedy, however wearing a tennis shoe with medial arch support or a heel cup can sometimes alleviate the pain.

• Have a first aid kit handy, and know how to use it. For example, have compresses available for bruises, and antiseptics and non-adhesive dressings for abrasions.

Source: United States Tennis Association; United States Professional Tennis Association; and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
From: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

 

Protect Your Achilles Tendon

To prevent Achilles' tendon injuries, "We advise people to be really smart about their training philosophy,'' emphasizing strength and flexibility, says Mick Lynch, a sports physician at Penn State. Do appropriate stretching exercises before and after working out, Lynch says. "After is more important than before; that is when you get sore and tighten up.''

Four Progressions for Stronger and More Stable Ankles
by Jon Hinds CSCS, CPT

The progressions for developing more stable ankles and thus quicker reactions are as follows (do not progress to next movement until you can easily do the previous movement):

1. One-legged Holds (barefoot) approximately 3 weeks. Stand on one leg for 30 seconds without touching the other foot down, if possible, or holding onto anything else like a chair or wall. Switch legs and repeat. Start out doing this for 3 sets of 30 seconds on each leg without resting inbetween sets and progress to 3 sets of 60 seconds (add 10 seconds per week). You can do this exercise everyday but just start out 3-4 times per week.

2. One-legged Calf Raises and Holds (barefoot) approximately 3 weeks: same as #1 except now do 10 calf raises before holding for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat. Start out by doing 3 sets of 10 reps plus 30-second hold on each leg without resting inbetween sets (3-4 times a week). Progress to 3 sets of 25 reps plus 60 seconds hold (add 3 reps and 10 seconds per week).

3. Jumping Rope-alternating legs (barefoot if possible) approximately 3 weeks: start out with basic jumping rope except you alternate 10 jumps on each leg until you reach 100 jumps, adding 2 sets each leg each week. Use an adjustable Lifeline Jumprope

4. Resisted One legged Line Jumps over X Pattern (barefoot if possible). See diagram below. Approximately 3 weeks: Start out using a Lifeline Cable connected to a wall or poll with a resistance running belt connected around your waist and trhough the handles of cable. Label the boxes or sections: 1-2-3-4. With the resistance cable stretched, stand in box one, left shoulder facing towards wall or poll. Now jump back and forth on one leg from 1-2-3-4 and back to 1 and repeat this figure 8 four times. Switch legs and still facing the same direction repeat 1-2-3-4, four times. Now turn around so that the right shoulder is facing the wall or poll and repeat 1-2-3-4 four times on the left leg and then the right leg. Progress to wider jumps with the same number of repetitions.

Now you may have noticed that all of these movements involve a good deal of balance and thus stability. If so, your observation is correct. The reasoning behind this is simple. When we perform any function in life, especially athletics, we balance and stabilitze . Machines do not allow us to balance and stabilize. So the most functional way to train an athlete is to imporve thier balance and progressions in training using the same stability mechanics but with added resistance. Use the Lifeline Resistance Cables. This enhances the degree of difficulty and adds tremendously to conditioning and performance for the athlete. Training in this manner achieves two very important points:

1. Increases the athlete's ability to stop, run, jump and cut quicker than by traditional means of training (i.e. calf raising machines).

2. By increasing the athlete's ability to stabilize quicker, the likelihood for ankle injuries decreases dramatically as well as for knee, hip and back injuries.

In closing, train how you play with quick reaction, balance and stability. If you have any questions on functional stability training or funtional equipment, please contact me, Jon Hinds, at 1-800-553-6633 or e-mail: lifeline@inxpress.net

 

Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow actually refers to a number of painful conditions affecting the inner and outer areas of the elbow. And you don't have to be a tennis player to get it. Anyone who exerts a repetitive strain on their elbow -- like a carpenter swinging a hammer -- is a candidate.

Pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow is the most common complaint. It's the result of repetitive stretching or strain of the elbow tendon that causes the problem. This overload causes the tendon to degenerate. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say most tennis elbow cases can be treated without surgery.

Rest is the first treatment component. If you feel pain in your elbow when swinging a racquet, STOP! Rest your elbow for a few days. You may need to use ice to reduce swelling. Taking some anti-inflammatory medications could help too. That should take care of most cases, but if the pain continues for several days, or if it wakes you up at night, check with your doctor. Physical therapy or surgery may be necessary. Once you're back on the court, have a trainer or tennis pro show you some stretching exercises to prevent future problems.

The best way to prevent tennis elbow is to:

• Do gradual resistance and stretching exercises for the wrist.
• Avoid placing the thumb behind the grip for more support on the backhand, which causes one to push the ball from the elbow.
• Start backhand swings from the shoulder.
• Bend the arm on forehand shots, so the biceps and shoulder take the force of the swing rather than the elbow.
• When serving, bend the arm. Serving with a straight arm and firm wrist will transfer all shock from the wrist to the elbow.
• Do not put excessive topspin on the ball when hitting ground strokes by rolling over the top of the ball with the wrist and elbow.

Know When to Rest

Many overuse injuries at first produce only mild or intermittent pain that you may be tempted to ignore, or that you may confuse with the twinges and mild muscle soreness that can accompany a strenuous workout (and that do not damage muscle tissue). The telltale signs of a potentially serious injury include: sever or persistent muscle pain, swelling, or spasm; pain centered in a bone or joint; stiffness or decreased mobility of a joint; numbness or tingling. If any of these symptoms appear, you should stop exercising. Rest the affected muscles for at least five to seven days, then slowly return to training.
(Source: University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter)

Links >>

• FootDoctor.com
  Developed by a practicing podiatrist with more than 30 years of experience to provide people with aching feet, as well as those with healthy feet, a convenient source for information and affordable foot care products.

• Benefits of Flexibility Training
  Flexibility is a joint’s ability to move through a full range of motion. Flexibility training (stretching) helps balance muscle groups that might be overused during exercise or physical activity or as a result of bad posture. It's important to clearly understand the many benefits that result from a good flexibility program.

• Specialized Training Exercises for Tennis
  When the players get involved in general weight training or a mixture of aerobic and weight training, they do become stronger and more fit. As a result, many see improvement in their playing. But the amount of improvement is far from what it can be when the strength, speed-strength, flexibility and aerobic exercises are specific to the skills executed in play.

• The Training Session
  Every training session should be so structured that it provides for an initial warm-up followed by the main workout and then a cool down or recovery phase.

• Frustrating Tennis Elbow can be Aided
  Tennis elbow can be a difficult problem but it may be alleviated by thoughtful medical and technical measures.

• Keeping Tennis Elbow at Arm's Length: Simple, Effective Strengthening Exercises
  Tennis elbow involves damage to the forearm muscles and tendons. Rehabilitation from this painful condition usually includes rest, icing, stretching exercises, improving tennis technique, and using an elbow strap called a counterforce brace. But perhaps the most important part of rehabilitation is strengthening exercises, which both promote recovery and help keep tennis elbow from returning.Two types of exercise will help you regain strength: exercises with weights and exercises without.

• Skin Cancer Prevention Information
  How to protect your skin when you're in the sun.

• Heel Pain Self Help
  The information provided by "The Heel Pain Center" should be used to help understand your problem. The following information is a self help treatment plan for Plantars Fasciitis sufferers.

• Planter Fascietis - Heel Pain
  Many people complain of heel pain. What causes it? What to do about it?

• The Rotator Cuff:  A Tennis Player's Weak Link
  The physical demands of the sport of tennis often result in specific overuse injuries. With the possible exception of "tennis elbow" the most common and potentially career threatening is injury to the rotator cuff. With early diagnosis such injuries usually respond quickly to exercises.

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