If you are playing six hours of tennis a day, then surely you have the time to invest in reading the dozen pages on injury prevention from the USTA:
http://dps.usta.com/usta_master/usta/doc/content/doc_437_550.pdf
Two particularly relavent areas include the following:
"Tennis Injuries: Types and Causes
Tennis injuries are of 2 broad types:
• 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.
There are multiple causes for the overuse injuries in tennis, including the need to perform repetitive forceful motions and strokes,
inadequate rest and recovery, incorrect tennis specific conditioning, acquired inflexibility, and strength weakness/imbalance. Each injury may have unique causes that must be evaluated to avoid repeated injury, suggest proper conditioning programs, and allow safe return to sport.
Long-term tennis play has been shown to result in adaptations in flexibility, strength, and strength balance in many areas of the body. The most commonly involved areas include the hip, the low back, the shoulder, and the elbow. As a result, the athlete may exhibit inflexibility in hip rotation, inability to touch the toes, inflexibility in shoulder rotation, and tightness in elbow extension or forearm rotation. They also may show weakness in trunk or shoulder muscles. These adaptations usually don’t produce injury by themselves, but create a less than optimal capability to withstand the inherent physiological or mechanical demands the athlete must face in playing tennis. This creates the process of overload which then can lead to 3
further adaptations, alterations in technique, and alterations in performance, with the potential to cause injury over time, as shown in the diagram of the “negative feedback vicious cycle” of injury.
Vicious Cycle of Adaptation and Injury
Overload
Adaptation
Altered Performance
Altered Technique
Injury
Other causative factors in injury risk include the need to hit repetitive forceful shots over many matches,
inadequate rest and recovery between matches or practice, and conditioning programs that are not specific enough to prepare the body for the tennis specific demands. All of these feed in to the negative feedback cycle to increase the risk for injury."
"
Periodization
Periodized conditioning breaks the tennis season into four periods, each with specific training and conditioning goals. The four phases are:
1. The preparation phase. The preparation phase emphasizes maximal off-court work to improve general flexibility, strength, and endurance. Total body flexibility exercises, core and leg strength exercises, and running make up the bulk of the conditioning program. There is relatively little tennis play in this period.
2. The pre-competition phase (or transition phase) sees an increase in the amount of tennis played, and focuses more on tennis specific exercises, which would include shoulder and arm flexibility, shoulder and arm strength, and short run activities. The emphasis of this phase should transition from building muscle endurance to training for strength and power.
3. The competition phase is a high-intensity play period when tennis is played at a maximal level. Conditioning during this phase should emphasize maintenance exercises such as shoulder and trunk flexibility, scapula and rotator cuff strength, and anaerobic endurance sprints.
4.
The rest and recovery phase is a period when the player can recover from the physical and mental stress endured during the competitive season. Rest and recovery must be built into all phases of the training plan to decrease the tennis loads, but it is especially important to allow some down time. The player should still work to maintain a fitness level but this can be done through cross-training Players should stay away from serious tennis training.
