Tennis Clinic

Our tennis clinic is a specialised physiotherapy clinic, that deals with tennis injuries and prevention.

We have experience dealing with tennis injuries and work closely with many tennis coaches and their students helping them enhance their performance in term of injury prevention and fitness.

  • Our physiotherapists can give you a full biomechanical assessment, this will help us look at your “tennis muscles” strength, length and technique.
  • We can design a tailor made fitness programme to suit you, taking into consideration muscle’s strength, flexibility, balance and coordination.
  • Our physiotherapists can provide you with pre and post-event deep tissue sport massage.

As a primary health care provider, we don’t just treat the symptoms! We diagnose, find the cause of the problem or injury and treat it.

Five common tennis injuries we treat:

  • Sprained Ankle
  • Shoulder Pain
  • Calf Strain
  • Stress Fracture of the Back
  • Tennis Elbow

Sprained Ankle

Sprained ankles are relatively common in tennis players. Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray have all suffered sprained ankles. The sudden sideways movements that are required during tennis can cause the ankle to twist, particularly if the surface is slippery or the player is fatigued. A twisted ankle causes damage to ligaments and other soft tissues around the ankle. This is called a Sprained Ankle. The damage causes bleeding within the tissues, which produces a swollen ankle that can be extremely painful.

Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain can occur in tennis players because there are repeated stresses during tennis strokes, particularly the serve. There are several sources of shoulder pain in tennis players, but one of the most common causes is Shoulder Bursitis. Bursitis is inflammation of a sac of fluid called a Bursa. In the shoulder frequent overuse of the Rotator Cuff muscles (a group of small muscles, situated close to the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder, that provide stability to the ball and socket) can cause the Bursa to get ‘impinged’ between the muscles and the bony prominence of the shoulder, leading to inflammation. This causes pain whenever the arm is raised.

Calf Strain

The calf muscle group consists of the Gastrocnemius, Soleus and Plantaris muscles, situated at the back of the lower leg. Their function is to pull up on the heel bone and these muscles are most active during the push-off when a tennis player has to move quickly to react to an opponent’s shot. A strain occurs when the muscle is forcibly stretched beyond its limits and the muscle tissue becomes torn.

Stress Fracture of the Back

A stress fracture of the back, or lumbar spine, is one of the more common bone injuries in young tennis players. Lower back stress fractures are usually characterised by an ache in the lower back which is exacerbated by sporting activities and eased by rest, although a small percentage of people with a stress fracture can be pain free. Typically it is sore when the patient bends backwards, particularly if standing on one leg. If a lower back stress fracture is suspected, a doctor may decide to refer the patient for a scan to confirm the diagnosis.

Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is inflammation of the muscles and tendons of the forearm as they attach to the humerus (upper arm) bone. This inflammation is caused by prolonged gripping activities such as hammering, driving screws, weight lifting, playing certain musical instruments, canoeing, digging in the garden, driving and, of course, racquet sports. Tennis elbow causes pain when the lateral epicondyle (outermost part of the elbow) is touched and also if the elbow is straight and the hand is moved forward and back at the wrist. The pain is exacerbated by gripping activities and in some cases simple things like turning a door handle can cause intense pain.

Tennis Injuries – Types & Causes

Tennis injuries fall into two main categories:

  • Traumatic injuries (sprains, muscle pulls, fractures, etc) make up about 1/3 of injuries seen in tennis, depending on the age and activity level of the player. Most traumatic injuries occur in the lower extremity. They are not easily prevented, nor are they particularly related to tennis technique.
  • Overuse injuries (strains, tendonitis, tendinosis, low back pain, etc) comprise about 2/3 of injuries experienced by tennis players. Overuse injuries occur in all areas of the body, and may be related to technique or to alterations in the athlete’s musculoskeletal system.