Arms a tad sore while serving/Fine for groundstrokes. Keep playing?

[BirdWalkR]

I was really working on serves and made the mistake of serving too many at 100% over about 4 days throughout the week. Now when I try to serve my arm feels a bit tender. It may be worth noting I use the Wilson BLX Blade Tour which has a stifness rating of 70 which im sure doesn't help. Groundstrokes feel fine though. No sore arm or anything. The pain seems to come from my shoulder and through my arm a bit while serving. So my question is should I stop playing completely till my arm gets better? Or will I be alright to continue playing, Just without serves? Playing High School tennis mid february and not looking for any preseason injury. Any help would be greatley appreciated!

 

[Ramon]

What kind of strings do you use? Is it poly? How long have the strings been on your racquet? Maybe the strings are dead.

 

[BirdWalkR]

What kind of strings do you use? Is it poly? How long have the strings been on your racquet? Maybe the strings are dead.

I believe I use the Wilson NXT 16 String Natural. Never used these strings before and I say I've used them for about 2-3 weeks? Also The BLX Blade is a new racquet for me too that I've used the same amount of time. I do have a Head Microgel Midplus with a stiffness of 57 which I used for about 2 years before making the switch. Honestly I feel like I just overdid serves. I'd hope it's not the racquet stiffness causing problems since I play so well with it. And oh, strings don't feel dead to me but I did get them strung middle of the road at 57 pounds. Maybe a tad too loose for such a powerful racuqet and especially considering I generate most of my own power.

 

[Ramon]

I believe I use the Wilson NXT 16 String Natural. Never used these strings before and I say I've used them for about 2-3 weeks? Also The BLX Blade is a new racquet for me too that I've used the same amount of time. I do have a Head Microgel Midplus with a stiffness of 57 which I used for about 2 years before making the switch. Honestly I feel like I just overdid serves. I'd hope it's not the racquet stiffness causing problems since I play so well with it. And oh, strings don't feel dead to me but I did get them strung middle of the road at 57 pounds. Maybe a tad too loose for such a powerful racuqet and especially considering I generate most of my own power.

Your strings are fine. You probably overdid your serve. If it hurts on serve but not on groundstrokes, it might be golfer's elbow. If you are right-handed and your palm is facing up, the pain would be on the right side if it is tennis elbow and on the left side if it is golfer's elbow. If you have problems doing barbell curls it's a sign of golfer's elbow.

Rest always helps, but I'll admit it's tough to do when you love the sport so much. If it's your elbow, you might want to get the Thera-Band Flexbar (I use the green one).

 

[charliefedererer]

If your arm feels completely fine on groundstrokes I would stick with hitting sessions, and hold off on serving until the arm is better.

When you do return to serving, start slow with a low number of serves and gradually build up over several sessions. You may want to consider using the softer Microgel midplus your first sesions back serving.


To help prevent shoulder problems in the future, seriously consider doing the "thrower's ten" exercises:http://www.muhlenberg.edu/pdf/main/athletics/athletic_training/throwers10.pdf


You may consider the following videos helpful:
Preventing Rotator Cuff Injury http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTRvxaBMh8s
Your serve technique doing more harm than good? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgdXawklcZk

 

[BirdWalkR]

Good advice. I think it is time to start doing exercise to prevent injury