Overuse Injury Prevention Strategies for Tennis Players

Tennis is a sport that requires a mix of agility, power, and endurance. While the thrill of competition and the joy of hitting a perfect forehand or backhand are part of what makes tennis so appealing, the repetitive nature of the game can take a toll on a player’s body. Overuse injuries, in particular, are common among tennis players, whether they’re beginners or professionals. These injuries typically result from repetitive motions, poor mechanics, and a lack of proper recovery. They can be difficult to manage if not addressed early on. This is especially important to consider as tennis is a year round sport. This blog post will explore strategies for preventing overuse injuries in tennis both from a strengthening and mobility perspective. 

Before diving into prevention strategies, it's important to understand what overuse injuries are and why they are so common in tennis. Overuse injuries occur when the body is subjected to repetitive stress without enough time to recover. This can come from the repetitive mechanics of tennis, the overall volume someone plays throughout a given week, or inadequate rest time between practices and matches/tournaments. 

Some common overuse injuries in tennis include:

1. Rotator Cuff Injuries: These occur in the shoulder due to the repetitive overhead motions used in serving and overheads.

2. Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis): This condition involves pain on the outside of the elbow, typically caused by repetitive rotation of the arm, especially with poor mechanics during strokes.

3. Low Back Pain: Often presents on the dominant side due to repetitive extension on a serve.

4. Wrist Tendinopathy: Often presents on the pinky side of the wrist from the hand positioning required during ground strokes and volleys. This commonly presents as a result of strength deficits in the shoulder or mobility deficits in the mid back lending to poor mechanics.

A big key to preventing the injuries noted above along with other aches and pains is to have a solid strengthening and mobility program-both in season and during breaks. 

Important areas of focus for strength and mobility:

1. Shoulder: Maintaining strength within the rotator cuff muscles and other muscles located on the back part of the shoulder are critical for proper mechanics, power generation, and overall stability of this joint. Deficits seen in this region can lead to shoulder, elbow, and wrist injuries. More often than not, the elbow and wrist injuries seen in tennis are due to strength impairments at the shoulder rather than further down the arm.

2. Core: Having a strong core, which includes the muscles of the low back as well, is important for preventing back and hip injuries. There is a lot of flexion, extension, and rotation that takes place in tennis so exercises that move through these varying planes can assist with maintaining power and health. 

3. Lower Body Strength: Strong legs help players with quick starts, stops, and lateral movements. Exercises like squats, lunges, and plyometric drills can improve lower body strength and agility. This not only boosts performance but also helps prevent injuries to the knees, hips, and ankles.

4. Mid and lower back mobility: Having enough motion in all planes within the back is important but especially extension through the thoracic spine and rotation through the lumbar spine. If a person is lacking thoracic spine extension, they are at risk of overusing the shoulder to complete a serve or overhead. Without the ability to fully rotate, ground strokes will not be as powerful and the hips and shoulders have to work overtime to make up for this deficit, subjecting these areas to breakdown.

Strength and Mobility Training for Tennis

Strengthening activities are good to perform 2-3 times per week. It is important to work with challenging weights that cause muscle fatigue to allow for progressive overload of the body. Often, resistance bands are used for training and these can be valuable to assist with warming up the body prior to playing, but more challenging activities should be done for lasting strength benefits. 

Some great strength exercises for tennis include lunges, lateral lunges, shoulder raises, and rotator cuff strengthening exercises.

Mobility exercises can be done prior to playing to help get the joints lubricated and ready for movement demands. Dynamic mobility is helpful prior to exercise and static stretching can be utilized after practice or a match. 

Rest and Recovery for Tennis

In addition to strengthening and mobility activities to help prevent injury, rest and recovery are two other important factors to consider. They are often overlooked but the body needs time to repair itself after strenuous activity. 

Since tennis is a year round sport, strategies to help manage recovery include off days throughout the week, getting enough quality sleep, and careful scheduling of tournaments. 

Scheduling regular off days during the week is crucial to allowing your body to rest and recover. Off days don’t have to mean complete rest, but it should mean doing some other form of exercise or activity that gives your body a chance to recover.

Scheduling too many tournaments or competitions in a row or overtraining is a recipe for injury given the lack of recovery time and overall demands of the sport.

Overuse injuries are a significant concern for tennis players, but they can be prevented with the right strategies. By focusing on strength, mobility, and rest players can reduce their risk of injury while enhancing their overall performance. Keeping these injury prevention strategies in mind will help keep you healthy and remain on the court longer.

If you are looking for help getting back to tennis from an injury or want some help building a program to help you prevent injury and perform your best, we would love to help. Contact us here and one of our experts will be able to help you develop a plan to keep you at your best.