Shoulder pain after serving - poly or heavier racquet?

I usually play with Head Radical MP (2021).

I have recently gotten a Head Prestige Tour (2021) demo and have been testing it out.

It came strung with some 16 poly. The racquet also had substantially heavier static and swing weight than my MP.

I really enjoy this racquet, but I noticed some shoulder pain after some demo playing/serving (I have a sensitive shoulder).


For some of you with a medical, OT/PT background - do you think that this sore shoulder could be more from a poly, which usually aggravates my arm, or could it be from the heavier raquet?
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
It's probably not your shoulder but your biceps tendon. That's why I haven't played in a few weeks. What's the balance of your racquet? Someone here recently said that very headlight racquets will stress the lower arm, and that more balanced racquets like mine will stress the upper arm.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
If you don’t know how old the poly strings are on the demo racquet, there is a very high chance that it has more than 10-15 hours of play already and so they are dead. It is likely the main cause of your pain. Cut out the poly, restring and see if you are OK.

Even though I play with poly or poly hybrids using my own racquets, I never get demo racquets with poly strings as they are almost always dead.
 
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Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
If my memory serves me correctly the Prestige tour has a pretty high swing weight for its static weight so that could be a factor if you are not used to that sort of thing. Poly strings can also be a factor.
Lots of variables in tennis including changes in frequency, volume and intensity in play at one level of consideration and at the other level the progressive overuse of the shoulder joint as used in serving over the years can cause tightness in the post capsule of your shoulder resulting in pain. Then you have the individual rotator cuff tendons, sub scapulas, infraspinatus, teres minor and supraspinatus, insufficient warm up, going too hard too snow, and bio mechanical imbalances in your service motion all contribute.
 

WildVolley

Legend
Yes, high weight and/or SW are more likely to be the problem for shoulders

Totally agree with this. The different weight can cause more effort to accelerate and put different stresses on the shoulder as you decelerate the racquet. A lot of shoulder injuries are caused by stressing the external rotators when trying to accelerate the racquet quickly, which primarily involves the larger muscles used for internal rotation.
 

nyta2

Legend
whenever i swtich racquets i have to give myself time to adjust to the new swing timing given the new swingweights:
example of racquet differences:
* toalson 305
* sw104
* rf97
* radical mp pro
i feel alot more tension/stress if i try to switch and "serve hard" (especially if there's a delay or pause at any point, or if try to do an "abbreviated motion")... these days i focus on just swinging smooth, and just let the racquet do the work
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Switched to Triax at 53 lbs. Shoulder problem solved.
You could still have a serve mechanics issue which resulted in shoulder stress that the poly strings exacerbated / hastened. If so, the Triax strings might let you get away with sub-opitimal serve mechanics for several years (even maybe a decade or more) before developing shoulder issues again.
 

GummiiBear

Semi-Pro
I sometimes experience shoulder soreness the day(s) after, but found the first culprit was my RF97, which I know is too heavy for me. My shoulder was totally fine once I stopped using it, but after my coach said I was ready to try poly on the mains of my racquet, initially the soreness came back. What had happened was my stringer strung up a reversed hybrid (previously gut/poly to ... poly/gut) at the exact same tensions. So fast forward to now, and I play with a poly/poly hybrid at lower tensions; like went from like 54 to 49/46. Soreness begone.

I think for me, it’s static weight and/or strings (tension, material). Someone also suggested that given that I use a platform stance serve with an abbreviated takeback, it puts more burden on the shoulder? Not sure, but I now try to focus more on a good knee bend, leg drive to hopefully help stave off the burden.
 
I think for me, it’s static weight and/or strings (tension, material). Someone also suggested that given that I use a platform stance serve with an abbreviated takeback, it puts more burden on the shoulder? Not sure, but I now try to focus more on a good knee bend, leg drive to hopefully help stave off the burden.
I have a very similar experience/lesson learned.
 
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