How and Why does a tennis player get injured?

José Miguel Olivencia 9 min. of reading Tennis Leave a comment

Tennis is not a contact sport, but tennis players are less likely to suffer sports injuries. In this post we will try to discover which are the most common injuries in tennis, as well as learn how to prevent them. Get strong on the court! Whatever your level.

Do you know the health benefits that a sport like tennis can bring to you? We have tried to explain them to you in this link in order to encourage you to try out playing and doing sport.

Index

1 Tennis Risks
2 Most common injuries in tennis players
3 How to prevent injuries?
4 HSN helps protect your joints
5 Bibliography Sources

Tennis Risks

You think if you play tennis you won’t be at risk of getting hurt? It is true that it is more complicated to suffer injuries as a result of collisions or contact with rivals, since each defends their own field and you are separated by the central net.

However, the amount of hours that tennis players have to endure inside the court, as well as the amount of matches that, in the case of professionals, follow one after another, is a stress that can lead to different injuries.

Have you never heard of the stress injuries of tennis players? Do not think that there can only be mental stress (which athletes also get), muscle stress can also lead to injuries in joints, muscles and even bone breaks.

Here’s an example of how a professional tennis player can get injured in a match…

Most common injuries in tennis players

With the introduction I’ve given you already, I’m sure you’ve come up with possible tennis-related injuries. Below we will look at some, the most common, and later we will also try and see how to be able to prevent them, or at least not reach an injury that forces us to stop recreational tennis.

Dr. Villanueva, in their own blog, deals with some of the most common injuries that can occur in the world of tennis. According to this specialist, tennis, «like all sports, has a series of technicalities associated to specific gestures that are repeated over and over again».

Such gestures are going to involve a series of very characteristic discomforts or injuries, which in the world of tennis are focused, mostly, on the amount of rapid movements (lower joints) and the play with the racket (upper joints).

Tennis elbow

Also known as epicondylitis, it is the main injury of non-professional tennis player, who does not have a specific physical preparation and performs sport in a recreational way.

How does this injury occur? By the repetition of the movement. The tennis player will especially suffer when he hits it upside down or in a volley, feeling a deep pain in the side of the elbow.

It is marked by the lack of sports practice of tennis (only at weekends, for example) and of doing it with the wrong means, as is the case of racquets not appropriate for the condition of the athlete, as well as the vibration caused by the same in the muscles after hitting.

Shoulder problems

In similar characteristics, the lack of adequate musculature will cause many tennis players to have the risk of suffering problems in the dominant shoulder, that is, the one with which stars when they play.

Specialists call the area the rotator cuff, and it is the biggest fall of the dominant shoulder on the non-dominant (with which we serve and the opposite).

The strengthening work will be fundamental, in order to give the area a muscle base that can end the problem.

Tendonitis

It affects different joints, mostly shoulder, elbow and wrist. However, it can also be called Achillic Tendonitis and occur in the Achilles tendon, quite common in sports that are practiced on too hard surfaces and marked by abrupt starts and changes of direction.

In the case of the upper joints, it occurs more commonly in the non-dominant limbs, due to the lack of necessary musculature, and you will notice it when you use said limb in the backhand strokes, where you will catch the racket with both hands.

Calf muscles

As in the upper limbs, the lower limbs may also suffer from over-exertion. In the world of tennis and medical this is known as a total or partial muscle disintegration of the inner calf.

It usually occurs, as the rest of cases, due to the lack of adequate musculature to such sport, so, in addition to the usual sport, it is very advisable to warm up optimally before starting to play a game of certain intensity.

Other prominent injuries

Not being any less important, other stress-related injuries may occur: dehydration.

In most cases, injuries are always related to the musculature or bones, but an athlete should also attend to hydration and nutrition before, during and after training and games.

In fact, lack of hydration can also lead to a lack of responsiveness on the part of muscles and muscle cramps.

How to prevent injuries?

We have already seen how most of the injuries are caused by the lack of sufficient physical condition in the athlete. Being that these actions are so repetitive, the athlete immediately proves the lack of musculature or the sufficient strength of it.

Therefore, the main prevention is lead a healthy lifestyle, marked by a correct diet and exercise performance on a daily basis. In this way, the enjoyment of an individual sport like tennis will be greater, forgetting, in the large number of cases, possible injuries.

In the case of the professional tennis players, it is clear that the physical condition is not the cause of the injuries they can suffer throughout the season. However, it is quite difficult to attend a game in which the tennis player has had to leave due to injury (although it also occurs).

In the cases of tennis professionals, most of the physical problems are related to the over-performance in matches, that is, that previously mentioned as muscle stress, that can trigger sports injuries.

HSN helps protect your joints

Protect all your joints with the best natural dietary supplements, of course, from HSN.

Here are some recommendations, as well as some other products that will prevent or treat muscle inflammation and that will allow you to stand in your best shape on the court.

Evoflex

Exclusive formula designed by the HSN I+D+i Department and manufactured by SportSeries.

This is the best combination to offer you the maximum protection of joints and connective tissues, specially designed to avoid wear of these in athletes and sports enthusiasts.

It unites three substances that we have naturally in our joints and muscle tissues: MSM, D-Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulphate.

Can anyone offer you better protection? No! Only HSN.

Chondroitin sulfate

Improve the protection of your joints from wear – exercise product with this natural substance.

Key to the repair of joint cartilage that may be damaged due to age, wear or over-exposure to sports activities.

Joint Care

Add a dose of liquid Joint Care from EssentialSeries to your fruit shakes every morning. What will it bring? The most important natural substances to offer you joint protection. Especially intended for athletes.

It combines substances that our own body already has in connective tissues and joints, such as Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM, but it will also give you vitamin B12, that will avoid fatigue and wear from the sport and activity of your day to day.

Collagen Joint Health

Product available in powder form.

Product developed by EssentialSeries based on hydrolysed collagen, in order to offer you the best joint health.

What does hydrolysed collagen offer? Because of this process, the proteins that make up collagen are divided into the amino acids that make them up.

It is a formula that protects joints and gives energy to the body. Developed by EssentialSeries.

Glucosamine sulphate

Condroprotector, that is, an effective protection on the joints of our body.

At HSN we offer the powder version, developed by RawSeries, and the capsule version, from EssentialSeries. Both options have a positive effect on metabolism, which will offer you protection for the joints of the body, especially designed for athletes.

The risk of a sports injury should not scare you when playing sports. At HSN we always bet on following a healthy lifestyle, mainly for the good health of the person. Follow a healthy diet and exercise daily. Your body, mind, and life will thank you.