‘Tis the season of tennis! Whether you play all year or you are a seasonal player dusting off those rackets, racket sports like tennis challenge your body in many ways. We might not be playing 5 hour matches like Rafa, but we still need to train our bodies for the demands that tennis brings.
Let’s think about the kinetic chain our bodies go through during tennis. This means the direction the force moves through our bodies as we hit a groundstroke or serve. In this process our joints serve as links to absorb, generate and transmit the energy through us and eventually to the ball as we hit it back over the net. In a game, we do this every single shot we take, which requires plenty of endurance, mobility and technique.
Now, let’s take a look at your classic “tennis elbow” or lateral epicondylitis injury. This is one of the most common overuse injuries in tennis, especially in novice players. Higher level players with “perfect” form are able to optimally activate their kinetic chain which lowers the demands on smaller joints, minimizing their risk for injuries like “tennis elbow”. For example, they use their larger muscles in their legs, core and shoulders to generate their force rather than their smaller joints like their elbow and wrist. Adjusting your form and learning about the kinetic chain may help prevent injuries and help offload your sore elbow while you play.
You could apply the same reasoning to your serve. During your serve, you are generating your peak amount of force into the shoulder. Professional tennis players are able to optimally use their kinetic chain and place lower load on their shoulder joint, decreasing their risk for developing shoulder, elbow and wrist injuries. Take a look below at this example of a serve, notice the stages of the serve and how much the legs and torso are involved.
It’s important to remember that not all injuries in tennis can be solved by learning the kinetic chain and modifying your form however it may be helpful for injury prevention. So next time you feel some pain in your elbow or shoulder during your game, think about your kinetic chain and get those legs involved!
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7215945/#B8-ijerph-17-02744