DAN'S PAPERS, May 18, 2008 Page 77 www.danshamptons.com
Health, Beauty & Fitness Tennis Injury? Stop, Drop, Ice — If You Dare
Photo by S. Galardi
Choosing the proper equipment and attaining the perfect swing are essential to preventing tennis injury. However, it’s important for players to remember to take care of the most important piece of equipment – their bodies. It’s estimated that more than 78,000 tennis-related injuries are treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices, and clinics per year. The most common tennis injuries are sprained ankles, shoulder pain, calf strain, stress fractures of the back and tennis elbow. The incidence of these injuries can be drastically reduced by appropriate training and performing a proper warm up. The warm-up should consist of 15 to 30 minutes of low aerobic exercise that mimics the motions performed during play – approximately 40-60% of the norm. This increases the temperature of muscles , allowing them to perform better, while also increasing the speed of nerve impulses, making you faster and better able to react. The range of motion specifically at the joints will be stretched, allowing them to move safely without tearing. Although flexibility is an integral component of fitness, stretching during the warm-up has never been proven to reduce injuries. Experts believe that the most beneficial time to stretch is after the exercise when the muscles are warm. This will decrease the likelihood of developing chronic tennis injuries such as tennis elbow, shoulder pain and stress fractures of the back. If you suffer an ankle sprain or a muscle strain then stop play immediately. Ice, compress and elevate the area. Get x-rays to make sure that you didn’t sustain a fracture. If you have a history of ankle sprains, studies have demonstrated a significant reduction in sprains when an ankle brace was used during play – 2.6 versus 32.8 sprains per 1,000 participant matches. If symptoms of pain develop, the first thing to do
is ice the area for 15 minutes every hour. The ice pack should be malleable and conform to the affected area. A handy alternative are frozen peas or corn (don’t eat them if used more than once). Also, take an ice cube wrapped in paper towel and rub the affected area for about five minutes until the ice cube melts. If you’re really hardcore, you can submerge your foot or elbow in a basin filled with ice water. Perform some gentle stretches and massage the muscles that surround the painful area. Stretching should not be painful or reproduce the symptoms of pain. If it does, then decrease the
intensity of the stretch or stop. Massage can be easily performed using a variety of tools including a tennis ball to rub the muscles around the site. Please note that a layperson should not use a massaging tool over a joint. For tennis elbow, the muscles to massage would be the outer muscles of the forearm when the palm of the hand is pointed toward the ceiling. It’s not uncommon for massage to be painful, particularly at a specific spot in the muscle. Core stabilizing exercises should be performed as a part of everyone’s training regime, regardless of the sport. Realize that core exercises are not exclusive to the abdominal region. For tennis, core exercises should be performed targeting the shoulder girdle, abdominal region and foot and ankle. These exercises are vital in the prevention as well as the rehabilitation of any musculoskeletal injury. The quickest way to recover from any injury is early intervention. If you begin to feel symptoms get to a health care professional as fast as possible. Often minor traumas become major injuries because they were left untreated. For a list of core exercises for tennis visit ptinthehome.com. Deborah Goetz is a Physical Therapist who specializes in health and sport performance enhancement locally and in NYC. Questions and comments may be directed to physicaltherapy@hotmail.com.
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