Should one change racquet after wrist injury?

[fighting123]

I have been having wrist injury for about 6 weeks, and now I still not ready to play yet. This is the first time I encounter an injury that long, and it really hit me hard mentally.

I currently use Babolat AeroPro Drive 2010 version. I love the racquet, and that is the only racquet I can tell/feel the improvement in my shots when I first tried it out 2 years ago. A local player has told me about the stiffness of my racquet could do some damage to my wrist and I think he got some points. I know there is some flaw in my technique as I tend to abuse the great power from the racquet and sometime find myselft hitting balls with barely wrist movement.

I have a plan to modify my technique in my forehand, but at the same time, I was wondering if I should start try out some other racquet.

Do you think my wrist injury cause mainly by a racquet or it just a matter of wrong technique?

 

[Lukhas]

What are your strings, tension, and how frequently do you restring? You could try softer strings and/or lower tension and tweak your technique before committing to a racquet change. Then if all else fails, change your racquet indeed.

 

[kimguroo]

I had similar issue last year. I really liked (probably I still like APD GT because of power) but I had a wrist injury which was the first time. Also it was the first time that I had to rest for two-three weeks without tennis. I was hitting with my friend and hit late. I thought I broke my wrist but fortunately I was okay after weeks of rest. I immediately searched other rackets and Tried so many rackets. It was very hard to replace APD but if I were you, I will try other rackets too.

I am not saying that APD cause your wrist injury but APD might not be the best racket for concerning wrist injury.

 

[Chotobaka]

If you are so married to Pure Drive like performance, you should definitely demo the Volkl Organix 8 Super G in both the 300g and 315g weights. I have chronic hand/wrist injuries from another sport and find it very, very comfortable for the ilk. I am coming from Fisher Pro No 1's, so I know a little something about comfortable sticks. If you cannot play with the X8SG you need to look for something very plush, but the tradeoff will be the easy power -- which was reason for going to this racquet.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Don't play while injured and I hope that you are seeing a Dr. What was the diagnosis of your injury?

If ligament injury that injury can take a considerable time to heal.

There are many long threads on wrist injuries on the Health & Fitness Forum.

The racket could be a factor, I don't think that anyone knows that information. It is difficult to find what causes injuries. But injuries can be associated with certain strokes and techniques. But that information is also not so available either.

When you have recovered, consider high speed video of your strokes particularly the forehand and serve. You have to especially see the wrist around impact. This requires small motion blur. Some smartphone cameras have small motion blur and high speed video.

If a stroke of yours has something unusual at the wrist in comparison to high level strokes, consider changing it. For example, high level servers have neutral wrists at impact for the serve, they don't look stressed, not near the ends of the wrist's ranges of motion. If yours looks jammed maybe you have found your technique issue. ? The forehand may more difficult.

This camera has small motion blur in direct sunlight. The Canon refurbished 110 HS models may not be available much longer. Used models can be found under $100. I tested this model for motion blur. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=484212

Where is your injury located in the TFCC area on the pinkie side? I have seen some serving techniques that jam up that area. I am always looking out for information on whether jamming up that side of the wrist or over stretching it causes injury. A few years ago I have mild wrist pain at the TCFF area and believe that it was getting jammed on a serve, as seen in high speed video.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Babolat racquets, in general, deliver a good deal of shock to the arm. This can put added stress to the wrist, elbow and shoulder. Frame shock is directly related to something called wrist crunch. From what I have read, the 2013 version of the AP Drive dampens the shock somewhat better than the 2010 version. If you decide to stay with a Babolat racquet avoid using poly or co-poly strings. Look for a softer strings.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?p=6996129#post6996129

If you want something more wrist and arm-friendly than these racquets, take a look at some Volkl, Prince and ProKennex (Kinetic or Ionic series). Forget about Stiffness (or Flex) ratings -- they can be very misleading in some cases. This bears repeating -- IGNORE Stiffness ratings for racquets. The Comfort rating the TW lists in their tests is a much better indication of how well the frame shock is dampened (or isolated from the hand).

The Volkl V1 Classic is one of the most arm-friendly racquets available on the market. I would highly recommend trying this one (despite its stiffness rating).

 

[racquetreligion]

Is this DelPo? now we know what the black racquet is a copy of

I used the Gamma copy of the pure drive with an extra 42 gms of stratigically placed lead and its pure graphite no composite with 58lbs tour bite 16L and had some pain above my hand from what I though was the shock, I use no dampener but kept at it stubbornly and somehow it went away.

Later I realized it wasnt the racquet but using the orbital sander for days weakened my hand and the racquet so are you doing any other activity that could aggravate the issue? I ask cause you have used it for 2 years.

 

[Crionics]

I had some wrist issues a couple of months ago and decided to change the strings and lower the tension after 3 weeks of tennis break. I had mono-filament poly strings before and am using multi-filament strings (Wilson Sensation something). These strings break more often though.
I feel some very light wrist pain from time to time, but it's really very light. In any case, if you feel pain from playing you need to stop tennis immediately and rest as long as required.

Also, as already mentioned by another poster, Babolat frames are not known to be the most arm- and wrist-friendly frames.

 

[fighting123]

What are your strings, tension, and how frequently do you restring? You could try softer strings and/or lower tension and tweak your technique before committing to a racquet change. Then if all else fails, change your racquet indeed.

I use RMP blast 17, stringing at 52. I am thinking about 50 next time.

 

[fighting123]

Don't play while injured and I hope that you are seeing a Dr. What was the diagnosis of your injury?

If ligament injury that injury can take a considerable time to heal.

There are many long threads on wrist injuries on the Health & Fitness Forum.

The racket could be a factor, I don't think that anyone knows that information. It is difficult to find what causes injuries. But injuries can be associated with certain strokes and techniques. But that information is also not so available either.

When you have recovered, consider high speed video of your strokes particularly the forehand and serve. You have to especially see the wrist around impact. This requires small motion blur. Some smartphone cameras have small motion blur and high speed video.

If a stroke of yours has something unusual at the wrist in comparison to high level strokes, consider changing it. For example, high level servers have neutral wrists at impact for the serve, they don't look stressed, not near the ends of the wrist's ranges of motion. If yours looks jammed maybe you have found your technique issue. ? The forehand may more difficult.

This camera has small motion blur in direct sunlight. The Canon refurbished 110 HS models may not be available much longer. Used models can be found under $100. I tested this model for motion blur. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=484212

Where is your injury located in the TFCC area on the pinkie side? I have seen some serving techniques that jam up that area. I am always looking out for information on whether jamming up that side of the wrist or over stretching it causes injury. A few years ago I have mild wrist pain at the TCFF area and believe that it was getting jammed on a serve, as seen in high speed video.

Thank a lot. I got this injury from hitting a late forehand. I am pretty certain that my serve does not create damage for my wrist. I dont know all the technical details but my wrist feel ok after serving.

I thought about seeing a Dr but then the pain had fading away slowly and that I did not want to pay some extra cash(i am a student), I decided not to see a Dr.
The funny thing now is the pain comes and goes and I sometime have a hard time recreate the pain.

 

[fighting123]

Thank you guys so much for all the information. I will let it sleep for another month before doing some strengthening excercises and hit the court.