Our clinic is open with experts providing both online and face-to-face appointments. Book Online Now
As we witnessed in Andy Murray’s gruelling fight to victory at Wimbledon, tennis puts a huge amount of strain on the body and you don’t need to be Andy Murray to feel the effects of this strain. Tennis injuries are very common and that’s why at Octopus Clinic we are highly experienced in treating tennis related injuries and pain.
Here are four of the most common injuries tennis players face and how to overcome them. Make sure you get all injuries fully assessed and treated before taking on board any of the following advice or doing any of the exercises.
This is an irritation of the tendon that runs over the bony bit of the elbow. The pain comes on slowly often after tennis at first, then during the game and when lifting and twisting, like pouring from a kettle or opening a heavy door. It is caused in particular by the movement required to create top spin. To treat it properly the stability of the shoulder needs to be addressed. If the shoulder is moving inefficiently more strain is exerted on the elbow. Treatment should therefore never focus purely on the elbow itself.
An insight into treatment…
Ankle injuries have been particularly prevalent on the slippery surfaces of Wimbledon this year. The risk of ankle injuries, which can range from ankle ligament sprains, ankle impingement, tendon problems and even fractures; can be reduced by training the stability muscles of the ankle and leg and improving proprioception. Proprioception is the body’s positional sense, i.e. how you can control the position of your arms and legs without having to look at them.
An insight into treatment…
Back injuries can destroy any tennis players’ game whether you are social player or a world champion like Andy Murray. Common back injuries are muscle strains, facet joint injuries or damage to the intervertebral discs. Disc injuries include prolapses, which can irritate the nerves coming out the spine and at worse the spinal cord and therefore must be diagnosed and treated properly by your physiotherapist. Please click on the link to learn more about the spine and back pain.
An insight into treatment…
Far too many people suffer in silence with shoulder aches, pains and injuries. The vast majority fall under the umbrella of shoulder impingement and this is fully treatable with the right physiotherapy. The absolute key to treatment is to get the shoulder working efficiently in the positions required of it to play tennis. It might sound obvious, but if you are only working your shoulder muscles with your arm by your side, there is not going to be sufficient carry over into a tennis swing and certainly not an overhead swing. Therefore your Physiotherapist will need to design exercises that safely rehabilitate your shoulder with your arm moving through the motions required to play tennis.
An insight into treatment…
Remember, you must have your injury or pain fully assessed and treated by an experienced physiotherapist or osteopath.
Please read how the knee works before reading the following. It can occur in any propulsive, impact based sports or as a result of a change in loading to the tendon. The patella (knee cap) tendon extends from the bottom of the knee cap and inserts into the tibial tuberosity...
Read MoreFacet joint pain is normally localized: centrally over your spine or to one side. It may feel like a "catching pain" during certain movements like bending backwards, or turning. It is associated with poor posture, repetitive strain (e.g. horse riding) or injury (e.g. snowboarding falls)The common factors that contribute to...
Read MoreProblems in the joint that joins your spine to your pelvis are still hotly debated in the physio, osteo and medical worlds. Strains can occur when the ligaments supporting the joint are loose (e.g. during pregnancy or with hypermobility) and we have seen many patients with SIJ pain following a...
Read MoreClicking or crunching in the hip can be caused by a number of things. Most people fear that the clicking is caused by bone hitting bone. However, thankfully nowadays this is rare. If you have this, it is likely that for many years you have been suffering severe pain and...
Read MoreThis is often painful through the middle of the range of movement as you take your arm out to the side and then up to above your head. Try this test – stop as soon as you feel pain: stand with your arms out in front of you as if...
Read MoreCervical disc problems include degeneration, disc bulges or disc prolapses.If the discs in the neck become damaged they can bulge out and irritate or pinch the nerves coming out of the neck or the spinal cord itself. This clearly has serious implications, however can often be treated successfully with physiotherapy...
Read MorePlease click here to read how the foot and ankle works and click here to read Achilles pain before reading the following. Make sure you have your heel pain diagnosed properly by a physio, osteo or sport doctor to ensure that heel drops are appropriate. There are some types of...
Read MoreThe following advice is designed for you to work through with your physiotherapist so it is important that you DO NOT try and do it alone. Hence why there is some juicy physiotherapy lingo in there!
Read MoreThere are a variety of exercises that are great for your feet and ankles including: 1) Foot self-massage exercise 2) Eccentric calf strengthening 3) Foot muscles strengthening 4) Concentric calf strength and ankle instability exercise
Read MoreA note on static stretching v dynamic stretching I bet you can't remember the last time you saw elite athletes doing a static stretches pitch-, track- or court side pre-performance. That is because research now shows that static stretching is not advisable before exercise. This is because it slows...
Read MoreThere are a variety of exercises that are great for your shoulders including: 1) Train shoulder posture 2) Train your scapular stabilizers 3) Train serratus anterior muscle 4) Stretch the lats (latissimus dorsi) muscles 5) Train the rotator cuff muscles
Read MoreMany spinal, hip and shoulder problems can be helped by retraining breathing habits and releasing the structures involved in breathing, such as the diaphragm and thoracic spine.
Read MoreBest exercises for elbow pain In this video, physiotherapist...
After fifteen years as a physiotherapist I have seen loads...
As a physiotherapist this is probably the most common question I get...
Physio exercise video for foot pain running injury In...
Hover over the specific body parts and find out more
Use your mouse to hover over the dark grey dots and click through to the specific body parts to get advice about your injury.
We promise to never share your email address with anyone.