As the summer of tennis heats up and we are all getting inspired by what the professionals are doing on our TV screens we don’t want injury to keep you off the court!
A common site of injury for tennis players is their shoulders. Tennis players are overhead athletes particularly when it comes to hitting the serve or going for that smash!
The overhead shot
The overhead position is one that can be problematic for some people for various reasons, be it spending too much of your day in front of a computer with your posture becoming rounded at the shoulders or simply not exercising the right muscles that are needed to get your racquet into the desired position to serve those aces. What can also be a common cause for many of your aches and pains are going from zero to one hundred in a short space of time. So, if you haven’t been exercising much lately but watching your favourite tennis star has motivated you to dust off your racquet and hit the courts every day your muscles might start protesting or get fatigued quicker than you expect and this can lead to issues if you push it too much.
So what have I injured?
Shoulder pain can commonly be felt at the front of the shoulder joint, radiating down the upper arm and in and around the shoulder blade. Tennis players can have rotator cuff related pain, subacromial bursitis, biceps tendinopathy or shoulder instability. If your biomechanics aren’t great due to fatigue or muscle imbalances or weakness an irritation to the tendons and/or bursa can occur.
What we can do to help get you back on court hitting winners…
Getting back out on the court
With a thorough assessment to work out the likely structures giving you pain or restriction and identifying any contributing factors we will come up with a plan to help minimise any time off court. Some therapeutic, hands-on treatment may be required to restore any stiff or tight structures to their comfortable state. Exercise rehab will be essential to help with the mobility of the shoulder complex and to strengthen up the muscles required for the overhead swing.
Either way, we look forward to helping to get you back onto the court and keeping you out there!
Yours in health,
The team at Subi Physio
