If you figure what's up with my wrist, you are a GENIUS!!

[karophiteblu]

So at the beginning of this year (2010), I strung up my kblade with VS gut 16 on mains and alu rough crosses. (essentially Federer's setup). I played it for a while, and my wrist started to feel some pain. I have never had any problems with my wrist before that. That pain lasted until my strings broke (2 months, blasting flat shots, no topspin haha). After they broke, I strung up with black code mains and x-1 crosses, an obviously stiffer setup. then the pain INSTANTLY disappeared.

So after that, I used black code hybrids and full tour bite setups. No problem at all. Then I started using k90. I started out with full solinco tour bite, and then x-1 biphase 17 and alu rough cross hybrid. It was all good until last week, when I got my racket restrung, I strung up with x-1 biphase 16 and alu rough cross. suddenly, my wrist pain reappeared after ONE hitting session.

So to sum up, before my first wrist injury, I used full alu power, full poly setups. Once I got the natural gut hybrid, with gut IN THE MAINS, my wrist started hurting. So I switched setups, to an even stiffer setup, and my wrist was fine. Then I come back to a soft 16g main and alu rough cross, and my wrist hurts again.

Is it because I'm using 16g strings on the mains???? It doesn't make any sense!

 

[charliefedererer]

You are assuming that your wrist problem is due soley to your strings.

But over time, your wrist is subjected to different forces and degrees of shock. There may be more mishits against a big server or over a week or two you may have hit an extra couple hundred balls than you usually do. And that doesn't even take into account that are wrists are strained during activities of daily living - even working at a computer keyboard.

If you want to minimize the chance of a recurrence after a period of rest you may want to try a soft string set up for a while.
Meanwhile, if the wrist pain goes away, you can help prevent a recurrence by doing dumbell wrist curls, reverse curls and pronation/supination exercises, squeezing a hand gripper (or even tennis ball) and/or using a Thera-band Flexbar. (Making the elastic forearm muscles stronger will let them bear the shock better than non-elastic ligaments and tendons at the wrist.)

[But even if I figured what's up with your wrist, a Genius I definitely am not.]

 

[karophiteblu]

Thanks for your comment charliefedererer!

I rarely ever play tennis for more than around 3 hours. I'm not really a competitive player, but I do play for the varsity team at my D1 high school. I haven't received a hard serve since the summer.

My friend is around my level, and the day after I restrung my rackets with the setup below, I played a set against him. We hit for a total of about 1.5 hours or so, and afterward, my wrist felt very minor pain, barely noticeable. The next time, today, my wrist did get worse; but I did shank considerably more.
ahh this is so confusing!

I think my string setup is fairly soft if I can say so myself, compared to my other setups. Maybe since I'm an eastern forehander, I can damage my wrist when I try to hit lots of topspin? (The part that if you stretch your hand out to shake hands, the bottom of the wrist in that position)

 

[charliefedererer]

Thanks for your comment charliefedererer!

I rarely ever play tennis for more than around 3 hours. I'm not really a competitive player, but I do play for the varsity team at my D1 high school. I haven't received a hard serve since the summer.
My friend is around my level, and the day after I restrung my rackets with the setup below, I played a set against him. We hit for a total of about 1.5 hours or so, and afterward, my wrist felt very minor pain, barely noticeable. The next time, today, my wrist did get worse; but I did shank considerably more.
ahh this is so confusing!

I think my string setup is fairly soft if I can say so myself, compared to my other setups. Maybe since I'm an eastern forehander, I can damage my wrist when I try to hit lots of topspin? (The part that if you stretch your hand out to shake hands, the bottom of the wrist in that position)

It sounds like you have been playing less tennis recently.
Your timing only has to be off a tiny fraction of a second to have more off center hits then when you were hitting more cleanly during the peak off the tennis season. You do in fact mention shanking more balls than usual, but there are also those slightly off center hits that can create more shock than you had before.

And even though your hybrid setup is softer than your old full poly set up, it is still not as going to be as forgiving on slight mishits (or frank shanks) than a full set of multifilament.
Also, I don't know what the temperature was when you played, but it may now be significantly colder than in the summer. That means the rubber balls are stiffer and the strings slightly stiffer as well. This may also contribute to more shock that your wrist has to absorb.

I don't think you are resigned to having to play with a full set of multifilament forever, but if you have more than one frame, you may want to consider keeping one strung with a multifilament if you are playing more infrequently as temperatures drop. I do that - switch from a gut/Alu rough hybrid to full gut for the winter months. And again, strengthening your foream muscles may allow your elastic muscles to take more of the shock than the non-elastic tendons and ligaments at your wrist.

 

[LuckyR]

I don't disagree that it is possible (even probable) that your pain has a lot to do with nontennis related issues. However, I would also note that you are changing string types more than average, so you are more mindful of the string capabilities and tendancies than average. Therefore I would be suprised if you don't subconsciously hit a bit differently due to your expectation of what the different setups are supposed to offer.

This would be similar to the observation that there are more head injuries among bicyclists who wear helmets, than those who don't. Or that there are more accidents among those with ABS than those without.

 

[karophiteblu]

Charliefedererer- Yes I have actually. I'm starting to get back into it, with at least around 2 hours per weekday mon-fri. I hit again today and I had more consistent shots. I still need to work on it though. My wrist did experience some discomfort, but not as much as yesterday.

It's around 70s when I play. I never really thought about the balls being stiffer. Does this mean that my racket frame itself is also stiffer? Would you recommend 16g or 17g multi? I have had 3 tennis sessions and the mains are pretty notched.

I might do that. My friend gave me a set of neon green PSGD. I hear that colored strings are stiffer? The workout, I'm not so sure about. I'm really busy haha. I can do stretches though. I don't know if my wrist is injured that severely anymore. I'm beginning to wonder if it could also be my muscle??

LuckyR- You have a really good point there haha. I do read many reviews before trying out new strings. I often mentally tell myself how the string will play before I hit. Sometimes I'm right, other times not.

That is also a very interesting observation. I never realized that.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Read my Sticky (at the top here), esp the first link in the Wrist Pain section, written by Dr. Montalvan, of the French Tennis Federation, now in the stands as the doctor of the French Team in the final of the Davis Cup in Belgrade

 

[jmhs]

It's good to pay attn to strings, but take a really close look at your technique.

I'm a 4.5-5.0 player with a clean forehand, but I get wrist pain occasionally from, I believe, hitting the ball late infrequently against big hitters on fast courts. Hope you're really looking at your strokes in slow motion to understand what you're really doing. Good luck. I understand the frustration.