Staying Strong

As much as we try to avoid getting injured, there are always ways that we may hurt ourselves while doing everyday things.  Playing tennis is not a dangerous sport, but like anything else, you run the risk of getting injured.  Below is a list of a couple of common tennis injuries.  Be sure to take care of your body first, make sure you aren't at risk for any other these injuries, they could take a while to recover from.

Sprained Ankle: A sprained ankle is common in any sport, but can be more common in tennis because of the amount of movement one may do.  In tennis you move a lot side to side as well as forward and backward.  You can avoid this injury by getting proper tennis shoes, perhaps wearing a brace or taping your ankle if you are known to have weak ankles, and properly stretching. 

Shoulder Pain: In tennis, shoulder pain can come because of repetitive stroke motions.  Usually you can get shoulder pains from overuse of serving, and hitting overheads.  This injury can also lead to a torn rotators cuff, or Shoulder Bursitis.  Both of these could happen as a result of not treating your shoulders correctly, or not taking breaks.  One should do conditioning on the shoulder to make it stronger, continue to flex and stretch your shoulders for proper movement, and do not overload the amount of work you do. 

Tennis Elbow: One can get this injury from other things aside from playing tennis.  Tennis elbow is found is people who grip items for too long.  Making sure you have a proper sized racket can help avoid this injury.  Too small of a racket could cause you to squeeze too hard, while too big of a racket, could strain your muscles as well.  If you have taken a break from tennis, it is a good idea to ease back into the routine of things rather than playing for 5 hours straight.