serving gave me elbow/ shoulder pain

[Elwood]

I have been trying to develop a real serve the last three weeks. I spent several hours one day serving nonstop. I felt no pain. The next day playing a short game I began to feel a wierd thick numbness in my elbow. Later that evening I could barely move my arm. Now three weeks later I am still suffering from shoulder and elbow pain. It feels like my arm did as a kid when I would "throw my arm away".

I am moving to a little more powerful racket so I don't have to swing as hard. I am sure my form is wrong and I am swinging as hard as I can to get depth. When I serve, my arm is racked with pain. I can hit for an hour or so with out pain but can only serve 1 or 2 times.

My question is this: Is there a "classic" mistake in serving that leads to elbow pain? It seems like the elbow pain is causing me to misuse the shoulder. Hence the shoulder pain. I am really alarmed by the sudden onset of the pain and how long it is lasting.

Will an elbow band help?

 

[dproject]

Same situation here. But for my case, the pain is more located on the shoulder.

 

[JRstriker12]

I have been trying to develop a real serve the last three weeks. I spent several hours one day serving nonstop. I felt no pain. The next day playing a short game I began to feel a wierd thick numbness in my elbow. Later that evening I could barely move my arm. Now three weeks later I am still suffering from shoulder and elbow pain. It feels like my arm did as a kid when I would "throw my arm away".

I am moving to a little more powerful racket so I don't have to swing as hard. I am sure my form is wrong and I am swinging as hard as I can to get depth. When I serve, my arm is racked with pain. I can hit for an hour or so with out pain but can only serve 1 or 2 times.

My question is this: Is there a "classic" mistake in serving that leads to elbow pain? It seems like the elbow pain is causing me to misuse the shoulder. Hence the shoulder pain. I am really alarmed by the sudden onset of the pain and how long it is lasting.

Will an elbow band help?

The #1 probably cause of your pain is overuse. Serving for several hours non-stop - while swinging as hard as you can - with bad form can put more strain on your shoulders and arms than you are normally used to.

There's no classic mistake that could cause this, but if you know there's really something wrong with your form, I'd recommend getting a pro to correct your form. If you have some video, post it. Some of the pros on this board my have some suggestions.

If your elbow pain is causing your to compensate using your shoulder, you should really stop serving and/or playing until your arm heals up.

An no, I doubt and elbow band would help much at this point.

 

[Elwood]

I guess I know my form is bad because I can't serve. I am learning the game late in life. However, yesterday I stopped trying to serve like Boris Becker and simplified as much as possible in my serve. Much better results.

I agree that I over used it. I am starting tonight on a very light weight lifting routine to strengthen the wrist, forearm, and shoulder. Thanks.

 

[charliefedererer]

I guess I know my form is bad because I can't serve. I am learning the game late in life. However, yesterday I stopped trying to serve like Boris Becker and simplified as much as possible in my serve. Much better results.

I agree that I over used it. I am starting tonight on a very light weight lifting routine to strengthen the wrist, forearm, and shoulder. Thanks.

Smart idea to start on a light lifting routine to prevent future problems. The only question is timing. If the arm still hurts, you should give it a period of more rest to recover, and if it still hurts, you may want to get it checked out to be sure you cause structural damage that starting back too soon will only make worse.
You don't indicate what your light lifting routine consists of. Be sure to include exercises that strengthen the muscles responsible for braking the arm. As you attempt to throw the racquet as hard as you can at the ball, but don't let go, it is the opposing muscles that absorb the throwing force. If these muscles are not reasonably strong, they will get "stretched" and lead to stress on the ligaments and tendons at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Check out the following: http://www.asmi.org/SportsMed/throwing/thrower10.html
Clearly good technique, employing the entire kinetic chain, should be your goal in serving to resist further injury. Check out the easy motion of this young girl on the Bolletieri "serve doctor" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixx-MCC7D88
Or if you want a more step by step approach check out: http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/video-tennis-lessons/serve
(Of course if you want to develop a consistent serve with plenty of topspin, you'll have to be doing some core and leg work to get further in shape.)

 

[charliefedererer]

Double post.

 

[dproject]

Smart idea to start on a light lifting routine to prevent future problems. The only question is timing. If the arm still hurts, you should give it a period of more rest to recover, and if it still hurts, you may want to get it checked out to be sure you cause structural damage that starting back to soon will only make worse.
You don't indicate what your light lifting routine consists of. Be sure to include exercises that strengthen the muscles responsible for braking the arm. As you attempt to throw the racquet as hard as you can at the ball, but don't let go, it is the opposing muscles that absorb the throwing force. If these muscles are not reasonably strong, they will get "stretched" and lead to stress on the ligaments and tendons at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Check out the following: http://www.asmi.org/SportsMed/throwing/thrower10.html
Clearly good technique, employing the entire kinetic chain, should be your goal in serving to resist further injury. Check out the easy motion of this young girl on the Bolletieri "serve doctor" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixx-MCC7D88
Or if you want a more step by step approach check out: http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/video-tennis-lessons/serve
(Of course if you want to develop a consistent serve with plenty of topspin, you'll have to be doing some core and leg work to get further in shape.)

Nice video, charlie. I'm really impressed with the Bolletieri serve doctor, video. I think I need to work quite more to have that kind of motion, especially the bow concept "turn the waist and release the power using that motion".
Do you have any suggestion how to train that move on gym?
Thanks.

 

[Elwood]

It seems that the pain is caused by the rotation through the overhead swing. I hit an overhead lob at half court and experienced the same pain. I need to limber that joint.

 

[yellowoctopus]

... Be sure to include exercises that strengthen the muscles responsible for braking the arm. As you attempt to throw the racquet as hard as you can at the ball, but don't let go, it is the opposing muscles that absorb the throwing force. If these muscles are not reasonably strong, they will get "stretched" and lead to stress on the ligaments and tendons at the shoulder, elbow and wrist...

One of the best advice I've received from this board, Thanks Charlie.

 

[dwhiteside]

You're probably swinging too hard without the proper technique. I did this forever. When you are able to serve with proper technique and pronation, you'll see that you really don't have to swing as hard as you possibly can to hit monster serves. Whenever I served 100% for the first 8 months of my return to tennis after a while, I would have bad shoulder and elbow pain. Only when I learned to pronate more, to tone down my swing, to use more parts of my body did the pain stop (and my serves improve, paradoxically, even though I was swinging slower).

 

[charliefedererer]

Nice video, charlie. I'm really impressed with the Bolletieri serve doctor, video. I think I need to work quite more to have that kind of motion, especially the bow concept "turn the waist and release the power using that motion".
Do you have any suggestion how to train that move on gym?
Thanks.

I would think the key is to do plenty of core work in the gym so you then can practice the serve motion on court and have the abdominal, back strength and leg strength to release the power of the whole body into the serve.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/4221210.html

 

[schenkelini]

I injured my shoulder years ago lifting weights. It is easy to get the shoulder to hurt if I serve too much. I bought a book called the 7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution. It gives 3 exercises that work incredibly well at strengthening the rotator cuff which gets rid of most of the pain. I think that this book is now out of print. If you do a search on the internet for rotator cuff exercises, you can find similar exercises that will accomplish the same thing.

 

[lovin'it]

if you are anything like me, (49 and counting, not proper form), it is, as someone said, the absorbtion of the motion after hitting the ball. i think that is what has done me in for awhile. i would try to hit the heck out of my serve, and it just wore my arm out.

continental grip is supposed to save this, and wrist pronation. you really don't have to hit the heck out of it. and follow through.

that, and remember, although a great serve is a real 'glamour shot'. in doubles it is just the start of one of four games. other shots are really more important. (don't kill me for this statement, guys!)