Playing more tennis with less strain on your elbow and shoulder
Dr Nicola Tik
You have finally found a regular game, maybe a weekly doubles match after work, and you want to play more. Then your elbow starts to ache when you pick up your coffee, or your shoulder grumbles after serving. A few changes to your warm-up, your equipment and how you recover can help you keep enjoying more court time.
Every time the ball hits your racket, some of that impact travels through your hand and up your arm. Over a match, you might hit hundreds of shots, and your forearm muscles work hard to grip the racket and control each stroke.
Among recreational players, tennis elbow, an ache on the outside of the elbow, is the most common arm complaint. It accounts for around three quarters of elbow problems in some studies. Interestingly, it is more common in recreational players than in experienced ones. Researchers think this is partly because experienced players are better at letting the racket absorb the impact, rather than their arm.
Starting with a few minutes of gentle movement gets your muscles and joints ready for the speed of your shots. Something to try before you play:
One simple change can make a real difference to your elbow. Many players squeeze the racket tightly throughout each shot. Gripping firmly at the moment of contact, then letting your grip soften straight afterwards, reduces how much of the impact travels up your arm.
You could try checking in with your grip between points. If your knuckles are white, you are probably gripping harder than you need to.
Grip size is often blamed for elbow problems, but the research is reassuring. In one study, changing the grip size up or down by about 6 mm made no real difference to how hard the forearm muscles worked. A good guide is to choose a grip that feels comfortable and secure without having to squeeze.
Strings may matter more. In one survey of recreational players, those using very stiff strings had more elbow problems than those using softer synthetic strings. If your elbow is feeling it, asking your club or a racket shop about softer strings or slightly lower string tension is worth a try.
Shoes designed for tennis support the quick side-to-side movements the game demands, in a way that running shoes do not. Many tennis shoes are made for specific surfaces too, with a different sole pattern for clay than for hard courts.
When it comes to surfaces, a large study of more than 3,600 recreational players in the Netherlands found injury rates were broadly similar across clay, hard and artificial courts. Hard courts were linked with slightly more overuse problems in the legs. Players who switched between several surfaces had more overuse injuries than those who stuck mainly to one. If you play on different courts, giving your body time to adjust can help.
Your muscles and tendons adapt and repair between sessions, not during them. Something to try after a match is a few minutes of easy walking and some gentle shoulder and forearm movement.
In the hours afterwards, eating a proper meal and getting a good night’s sleep do most of the recovery work. If you play several times a week, spacing your matches out where you can gives your arm time to recover.