NHS physiotherapist performs 'tennis elbow' exercises
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Tennis is an intense sport and can cause lots of injuries. Even professionals with a team of experts looking after them get injured. The areas most affected by injury in tennis tend to be the elbow, anterior cruciate ligament, ankle, hamstring and back. Express.co.uk chatted to Professor Paul Lee, sports and orthopaedic surgeon from MSK Doctors at 108 Harley Street to find out the most common tennis injuries and how to prevent them.
Tennis elbow
Tennis elbow is a repetitive injury to the tendons that join the forearm to the outside of the elbow and occurs from overuse of the muscles that extend and bend the wrist.
Professor Lee said: “These are the muscles that take the impact when the racquet hits the ball if you drop your wrist too much.
“Half of all tennis pros are thought to suffer from this problem at some point in their career and it is usually treated with physiotherapy and platelet-rich plasm (PRP) injections.
“But correcting the racquet technique and appropriate rest days would be the most effective way to prevent the injury.”
ACL rupture
ACL rupture is rarer and more severe than tennis elbow and happens when the ligament crosses the centre of the knee and helps to stabilise the joint.
Professor Lee said: “This usually happens during cutting, change of direction and sudden stopping and starting, typically during the late stages of the game, when your thigh muscles become tired.
“If it is torn, the shin bone slides forward, often with a popping sound, causing pain and swelling. Bracing and physiotherapy are useful in some types of injury, but if it is completely torn, treatment usually involves surgery.
“X rays usually are normal, MRI scans are the first protocol to diagnose the injury. Knee injury is common in tennis, if managed well, like Roger Federer and Tim Henman, players can return to the top of their game.”
Sprained or twisted ankle
One of the most common tennis injuries is a sprained or twisted ankle, damaging the weak lateral ankle ligaments.
Professor Lee said: “Depending on footwear and the playing surface, this type of injury usually happens at the beginning of the game.
“It is important to stop play immediately, apply an ice pack to reduce swelling and stabilised the ankle.
“The affected ankle should be rested, stabilised and iced regularly for several weeks until the ligaments heal.
“A common mistake is to return to play too quickly, as the next injury would be a lot more severe.”
Back injuries
The nature of tennis means that occasional back injuries are inevitable, an enormous amount of pressure and forces compress the spine during each serve.
Professor Lee said: “Many players at some point experience a sudden and sharp or persistent and dull pain in the lower back that may also be felt in the hips, thighs and buttocks.
“Posture plays a big role in preventing such injuries. In this case, however, too much rest is not the best cure and light exercise that stretches the lower back should be maintained.
“A gym ball can be really helpful to stretch over backwards or when stretching by repeatedly raising each leg slightly off the ground for a few seconds.
“These exercises should be repeated each day until the pain has passed.
“If it’s left untreated, the effect will pass onto the hip and causes hip arthritis which may lead to a hip surgery like Andy Murray.”
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