Physical Training For Tennis Players
Therapy and Sports Center can help with your tennis physical training! Tennis: it's a fun sport, and a great way to hang out or compete with friends. Unfortunately for tennis players, injuries are far more common than one might think. Often, these injuries come from overuse. Still, if you're feeling some discomfort that you think is related to tennis, there's no need to fear! Plenty of these injuries can be helped with simple tennis physical training. Let's take a look at some common tennis injuries, and how we may be able to treat them.
Common Tennis Injuries
Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow may be the injury most of us are familiar with. Officially, this is called lateral epicondylitis, and it occurs when the tendons connecting your muscles and elbow become inflamed. This can cause a lot of pain, burning, and even weak grip strength. Rest can help tennis elbow a lot. However, if this is not quite a reality for you, wrist stretches, finger stretches, ball squeezes, and even forearm strengthening are all physical training exercises that can alleviate your symptoms.
Rotator Cuff Tendinitis
Rotator cuff tendinitis and other shoulder injuries are also common if you play a lot of tennis. Like tennis elbow, this occurs when the tendons in your shoulder become inflamed, typically due to overuse. If you have this injury, you may experience pain while raising or lowering your arm, a stiff shoulder that feels less mobile, and you can sometimes even hear a clicking sound when raising your arm. Thankfully, physical training is also very helpful for treating these types of injuries. Stretches like the sleeper stretch, internal shoulder strength training, and other exercises are all ways to alleviate shoulder pain caused by tennis.
Wrist Strains
The shoulder and elbow are not the only parts of your arm that may experience pain after a tennis game. Wielding a racket can be a lot on your wrists as well, causing them to be strained, or even sprained. Your tendons may become stretched unnaturally, leading to pain, a feeling of stiffness, swelling, as well as a limited range of motion. Like tennis elbow, wrists stretches, both flexion and extension stretches, are one form of physical training that can help your discomfort fade away. Other mobilization exercises, like radial and ulnar deviations, can help these injuries, as well.
Ankle Sprains
Lastly, tennis is a sport that requires you to be light on your feet. Still, mistakes do happen, and you may find yourself with an ankle sprain. In an ankle sprain, the ligaments that provide your ankle with support tear, as they have been pushed past their limits. This will make your ankle feel tender. Your ankle may look bruised, or swell, and it will be difficult to walk. Depending on how severe the sprain is, you may just need rest. However, some injuries require physical training, like balance training, stability training, and agility exercises. All of this can be found in PT.
If you get hurt on the tennis courts, don't panic! A lot of injuries can be fixed with physical training exercises. No matter the injury, the team at the Therapy and Sports Center can help you. If you're a tennis player, looking for tennis physical training in the Tampa Area of Florida, contact us today.
Sports Therapy Locations and Services
Luckily, our offices have a wide range of certified specialists, so it is easy for you to find the best therapist for your particular needs. To learn more about our highly-qualified staff of sports medicine and physical therapists, or to schedule an appointment, contact us today!
We have four locations you can choose from: