Sports Injury Prevention for Tennis Players

Sports injury prevention is vitally important to the consistency and longevity of both recreational and tournament players (and to coaches because if your players are injured, there won’t be much if any opportunity to coach). Here’s my disclaimer—I’m not a doctor of any sort or certified physical therapist, so please consult a professional.

From my experience, being in perfect anatomical functionality gives one the best chance to avoid injury. You might be asking, “Does this relate only to the muscles, or would the skeletal structure need to be involved?” It’s both muscular and skeleton function. So how does one get correct body alignment?

One option that top sports players use is chiropractic adjustments. I prefer the atlas orthogonal method, which adjusts the atlas or top bone in the upper cervical that your head sits on. When this bone is centered, the rest of the spine begins to align itself. The weight of the head has a great impact on the rest of the spine.

While this is a fairly quick procedure, it takes 6-8 weeks for the muscles to adapt to the adjustment. A number of checks are needed with possible re-adjustments. Once the atlas stabilizes, everything seems to work better. I’ve done this method since 1992.

Another method for body alignment is to work the muscles so that the skeletal structure comes more into alignment. The technique I’ve used is called The Egoscue Method, which is a combination of traditional physical therapy exercises and yoga-type postures. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to perform the exercises, so the amount of time it takes can be a down side. Many people are so busy that to devote this much daily time to stretching type exercise is difficult. Although once the routine becomes habit it's becomes easier to invest the time. Also, if a person is hurting bad enough any potential relief is worth a try.

A third option is what I call a yoga alternative. The flexibility postures are very similar to yoga, but with different names and descriptions. These alternative yoga exercises help me prevent injury. Remember, when you do flexibility stretches make sure and stay hydrated with pure water.

Staying free from injury is a win/win for everybody. It’s no fun and not smart to play tennis with discomfort or pain. Sports injury prevention is needed more and more. As we all progress in age, it’s important to invest our time in our body’s functionality and flexibility.

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