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Tennis players at every level — and even fans who just watch on TV — know the sport requires speed, agility, strength and flexibility, among other skills, to perform successfully on the court and prevent injury. However, even players with that magic combination still fall victim to the numerous repetitive motions and explosive stops and starts of tennis play.
While it’s a great way to stay in shape and a life-long sport for many, even recreational tennis can take a physical toll on the body. That’s why many players regularly use sports chiropractic to treat and prevent tennis-related injuries.
Tennis elbow is arguably the most well-known tennis injury, but others, including tennis leg and jumper’s knee, are actually more common reasons tennis players seek chiropractic care. In fact, most sports chiropractors who treat tennis players see more injuries to the lower extremities — foot, ankle, and knees — from hard planting on court surfaces and the continuous twisting and torquing necessitated by the sport.
Other injuries common to tennis players are those related to the rotator cuff, pain in the lower back, and imbalance in the shoulder area from overhead swings. Tightness in the shoulder area is often the cause of neck pain and headaches as well.
How Can Chiropractic Help?
The manual manipulation provided by chiropractic can be used to identify and remove scar tissue resulting from repetitive-use motions and previous injuries that constricts movement of ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Along with spine and limb adjustments, chiropractic employs an impressive arsenal of active rehabilitation therapies including myofascial release, instrument-assisted soft tissue technique, acupuncture, dry needling, and more, that are much more effective than passive rest-and-ice protocols, and aims to reduce pain naturally, to limit the use of NSAIDs and the need for steroid injections.
Along with rehabbing existing injuries, regular chiropractic care not only reduces pain, inflammation, and soreness associated with training and play, it helps to keep muscles supple and unrestricted, to improve flexibility and range of motion.
Fearing many of the common injuries of the sport, a growing number of tennis players are taking a proactive approach to injury prevention by getting regular adjustments to the neck, knee, spine, shoulders, and ankles, along with deep tissue work, and custom rehab and stretching programs. These are not only successfully injury prevention techniques, the increased mobility, flexibility, and agility might just improve your game.
If you have nagging pain from an old injury, an existing injury, or are hoping to prevent injuries from keeping you off the court, contact us to discuss how chiropractic care can help.
