help me save my shoulder

[eman resu]

In short, I'm asking for advices on shoulder friendly racquets. What kind of racquet should I look for? Light? extended? HL? MP, OS?
Some info: I learnt to serve with a PS6.1 Classic, and I did it the hard way: trying to force it instead of going little by little. As a result I got a bad shoulder and a great serve. Today I play with an Ozone Tour, much more comfortable and easy on the arm, but I feel that sometimes I tend to make too much effort on my serves, wheter it's a flat or kick - my favourite. I like to serve and volley a lot, and I can't do it with a weak serve. I have a very good forehand, a +- 2h backhand and a slice that's improving (love to use, but only lately has become consistent in matches)

I used to play with my Ozone extended to 28" (354g), and it was the most comfortable tennis I've ever played, can't rememvber feeling pain. Currently, I went back to 27", 340g, and sometimes the pain comes back. Extending the ozone again takes too much work, and I guess I should go lower in weight, since I found out I just couldn't do it with a ROK (348g) when in some pain, so I'm asking you: where should I look? What's important to preserve the shoulder?
Basically, I think I'd benefit from some more comfortable power, so I can take it easy and still hit a good enough serve.

Looking around on the net, I've found some that maybe would do me good. What do you think?

Volkl PB4 (27.6, 105sqin 290g strung, 65RA, 25mm)
Volkl Organix 4 (available at smaller grip, so I could add weight more easily to make it more HL)
Head LM2 (I would extend it to 28 and add lots of weight)
Head MG Radical MP (would also extend with less weight)

any suggestions?

[mikeler]

Go as light as you can for your shoulder but as heavy as you can to protect your elbow. Extended will be a little more harsh on the arm than standard. Head light is also good but MP or OS should not matter all that much.

[Boricua]

The Volkl V1 Classic is very good. See TW video review. Its only 99 dolars, in Sale.

[eman resu]

Originally Posted by Boricua

The Volkl V1 Classic is very good. See TW video review. Its only 99 dolars, in Sale.

Not where I live (Brazil), things are too expensive here :P
But I'll take a look, thanks

[eman resu]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Go as light as you can for your shoulder but as heavy as you can to protect your elbow. Extended will be a little more harsh on the arm than standard. Head light is also good but MP or OS should not matter all that much.

I had no issues when playing 28". Maybe it was the very HL balance?

[Volley123]

What helped me was doing some light dumbell exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff. No racket is going to mitigate a injury or pre existing shoulder instability. That being said I also switched to a Volkl PB V1 MP. It is in the sub 11 oz category, but can be leaded up as the shoulder gets stronger. It helps but is no panacea.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by Volley123

What helped me was doing some light dumbell exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff. No racket is going to mitigate a injury or pre existing shoulder instability. That being said I also switched to a Volkl PB V1 MP. It is in the sub 11 oz category, but can be leaded up as the shoulder gets stronger. It helps but is no panacea.

The thrower's ten really helped me recover from a shoulder injury.

[anubis]

I have a rad MP, very very comfortable. I highly recommend it if you want comfort.

Otherwise, the Volkl V1 is very comfy.

Search tennis warehouse's database of racquets for anything with a stiffness of 62 RDC or lower. those will all feel good to your arm.

[D-money]

I'm with Mikeler on this one, there are a number of exercises that you should incorporate into your routine regardless of whether or not you are going to change your equipment. Those might vary depending on where you feel pain in your shoulder, but you can't go wrong with the throwers 10. I would also suggest, as was suggested to me, to make sure your "big movers" are strong enough because in some cases that can be the problem rather than the small muscles making up the rotator cuff. Big movers would be lats, rhomboids ,trapezius and even deltoids.

[tistrapukcipeht]

Yonex Ezone Xi, very comfortable with great performance, you won't regret.

[LeeD]

Mid weight and kinda big... soft as possible.
MicroGelRadOS, a true 104 racket that is the soft and moderate power, huge sweetspot to keep from jarring your body on mishits.

[NLBwell]

Those stiff rackets would worry me.
LeeD has a good idea, though some people (like me) don't serve well with oversized rackets.

I'm thinking the opposite of many here. Perhaps the extended racket forced you to have a longer, more fluid motion. You may be forcing the racket around trying to repeat the power you were getting with the extended racket. (Due to the longer distance to the sweetspot, you will naturally get more serve power with an extended racket.)
As an experiment, put some lead at the top of the frame and practice a relaxed, long, smooth, slowly accelerating service motion - not worrying about power initially. You may find when you get your timing down that you get a lot more power with a lot less effort while saving your shoulder.
If the experiment works, then look at how much lead you want to keep, taking into account the rest of your game. You may not need any once your motion is smoothed out.

[LeeD]

Many ways to skin a cat. A forum is used to present more than one point of view.

[Virtua Tennis]

Are you using more chest muscles to serve or are you using more shoulder to serve. If you want to protect your shoulder you need to learn to use more chest muscles like Sampras or Roddick who lean back and use more chest and less like Sharapova who drops the shoulder down.

Try watching this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgdXawklcZk

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by D-money

I'm with Mikeler on this one, there are a number of exercises that you should incorporate into your routine regardless of whether or not you are going to change your equipment. Those might vary depending on where you feel pain in your shoulder, but you can't go wrong with the throwers 10. I would also suggest, as was suggested to me, to make sure your "big movers" are strong enough because in some cases that can be the problem rather than the small muscles making up the rotator cuff. Big movers would be lats, rhomboids ,trapezius and even deltoids.

I'd avoid bench and military presses. Those actually made my shoulder worse.

[prjacobs]

Originally Posted by Virtua Tennis

Are you using more chest muscles to serve or are you using more shoulder to serve. If you want to protect your shoulder you need to learn to use more chest muscles like Sampras or Roddick who lean back and use more chest and less like Sharapova who drops the shoulder down.

Try watching this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgdXawklcZk

Respectfully, your comment about using more chest muscles is not what serving, or the film you posted is about. It's about tilting or if you will positioning the chest in a way to keep the relation of the arm movement to the shoulder the least impinged.
It's actually the muscles in the back that often prevent shoulder injury because with more of the back involved, the strain is taken off the rotator cuff. Without the back, and of course your core and legs, you're arming the ball and that's too much to ask of many player's shoulders.

[Hi I'm Ray]

For shoulder issues, go lightweight + low on vibes = V1

[LeeD]

Possibly a racket that is soft on your arm might not hit hard serves, might not hit the hardest groundies, and might be hard to control volleying.
Too bad, it's easy on your arm and allows you to play tennis. Get used to it or don't play due to arm problems.

[eman resu]

Many interesting advices and points of view on the thread, thank you all.

[D-money]

Originally Posted by mikeler

I'd avoid bench and military presses. Those actually made my shoulder worse.

I also agree with this. Avoid any pressing/pushing exercises that put your elbow above your shoulder. Most tennis players have plenty of pushing strength but don't focus as much on pulling strength. If you are going to do chest exercises make sure you're staying flexible in the pectorals as they have a tendency to shorten which can also lead to further shoulder problems. That said if the pain is in the back of the shoulder some pulling strength could be what the doctor ordered.