“You still play soccer?” a yoga teacher asked me about four years ago. That word “still” has stuck with me ever since. Didn’t I look like someone who should be playing soccer?
So you want to play tennis and not get injured doing it. Sounds simple enough, but research shows that for every thousand hours of the sport, up to 3 injuries occur.
You’ll get to a thousand hours in less than four years if you play a few sets each week.
Researchers are beginning to figure out how you can prevent these problems. But we still have a ways to go.
Kei Nishikori, who lost the U.S. Open final yesterday, is a case in point, according to Sports Illustrated:
His injury woes started with a right-elbow issue that required surgery and sidelined him for all but three months in 2009 and most of the first three months of 2010. He’s also struggled with back, knee, abdominal and toe injuries. In May, Nishikori led Nadal by a set and a break in the Madrid Open final before eventually retiring with back pain.
Heat. Fatigue. A strained thigh. Eugenie Bouchard had plenty of reasons to explain her defeat in the fourth-round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament yesterday. And anyone who plays tennis regularly can sympathize. Even though you don’t have the opportunity to crash into another player the way you do in a team sports, you can easily get hurt.
Of course every vigorous sport takes its toll. But researchers are beginning to pinpoint the biggest risks for each and figure out how to prevent them. While they’re not as far along as soccer researchers, tennis experts have already scored some important points. Continue reading How Tennis Players Get Hurt→