Tennis, like any sport, has its share of injuries. While it is possible to suffer concussions and other contact-sports-related injuries while playing tennis, the most common injuries are either repetitive or acute, such as sprains. If you are a tennis fan, it is important to identify and receive the right treatment for any injury before it becomes more serious. Let's take a look at the most common types of sports injuries in tennis.
Tennis elbow
Due to the repeated movement of the wrist and elbow, the tendon fibers around the wrist and elbow joints are repeatedly dragged and strained, causing pain on the outside of the elbow. The pain may spread to the forearm and around the wrist. At the beginning, the elbow is only sore and slightly painful on the outside of the elbow, or it is only painful on the outside of the elbow when the elbow is rotated forcefully (such as when the elbow is twisted screws or towels). If the disease progresses, there may be persistent pain on the outside of the elbow, even spreading around the wrist. At this time the hand grip strength weakened, carrying heavy objects, twisting towels, backhand, elbow pain is particularly significant.
As a tennis player or enthusiast, you are at greater risk of developing tennis elbow if you use the wrong hitting technique. Therefore, one of the best ways to prevent tennis elbow and prevent it from happening again is to correct the stroke action. You can ask a professional coach or other experienced tennis player to observe your stroke action and provide feedback and correction on your current action.
As with many injuries, treatment for tennis elbow can range from reducing the intensity of the exercise or stopping the exercise, allowing the elbow to rest for a few days until it feels less painful. Ice the injured elbow several times a day for about 15 minutes. Over-the-counter pain relievers may also help.
If the effect of self-rehabilitation at home is not good, it is necessary to find professional doctors and therapists for treatment. The therapist will work with you to strengthen the muscles around the elbow joint. Severe cases of tennis elbow may require surgery.
Rotator cuff tear
Rotator cuff tears of tennis players are mostly chronic injuries, according to the specific injury, the severity of rotator cuff tears will be different. Dull pain (more pronounced when lying on your side in bed with the injured shoulder underneath) is a potential symptom of a rotator cuff tear. Other symptoms include an inability to actively lift an arm, an inability to extend it backward and an inability to carry heavy objects.
Rotator cuff tear is closely related to the training level of the athlete. A large number of cases show that insufficient muscle strength is the main cause of injury, such as weak rotator cuff tendon and surrounding muscles, poor strength of ligament, unbalanced development of muscle strength, and can not adapt to the special requirements of explosive tennis hitting and repeated high-intensity continuous hitting. Even the professional tennis players with higher training level are often forced to hit forehand and backhand, serve and high pressure spike under fatigue due to improper control of amount of exercise and exercise intensity, which leads to variation of technical movements and even serious errors resulting in rotator cuff injury.
To prevent rotator cuff tears, strengthen the muscles around the shoulder joint as part of your exercise routine. Pay special attention to the muscles in the back and shoulder joints that rotate outwardly.
If it's a mild rotator cuff strain, rest, ice and muscle training can help. If the rotator cuff is completely torn, surgery may be required.
Ankle sprain
Ankle sprain is also one of the common acute injuries in tennis. Whether you sprain your ankle on a quick move, or when you sprain your ankle during a quick stop or change of direction, the results are painful. Also, if you've had a sprain in the past, you're more likely to do it again.
A mild sprained ankle can cause pain, swelling and bruising. Severe sprains can include an inability to walk and an inability to put weight on the ankle. Rest, ice, compression bandages, and elevation should be given immediately after a sprain. This can help reduce swelling and prevent re-injury.
If the sprain is mild, there is no significant swelling, pain or bruising. You can heal yourself at home. However, if there is no improvement after a few days of rest or a serious sprain, such as the ankle can not bear weight, you should go to the hospital immediately for examination and treatment.
One of the best ways to prevent ankle sprains is to do regular proprioceptive training. Even simple one-legged standing can go a long way. Proprioception training is especially important if ankle sprains have occurred. Wearing ankle pads or bandages while playing tennis or other sports and buying shoes that stabilize the ankle can also help prevent ankle sprains.
While injury prevention is important, as a sports lover, you will inevitably suffer some kind of injury at some point. Therefore, please take timely treatment and rehabilitation after injury, strengthen targeted scientific training, and return to the game as soon as possible.