Shoulder pain when serving

[Pieter12345]

Hi,

I'm having pain in my shoulder after hitting some serves. I don't know if this is caused by my technique, the strings I use, or just my racquet...
I play with a Head Graphene Instinct MP.

What do you think the reason could be? And are there exercises I could do to prevent this from happening?

Thanks

 

[Chas Tennis]

Study the Ellenbecker video, study the shoulder orientation of high level servers and compare it to yours.

The Ellenbecker video addresses the risk of shoulder impingement due to a specific shoulder orientation.

I believe that serving with ISR is never forced and could cause injury if practiced incorrectly. Here are some known issues. With forceful and rapid ISR the small external shoulder rotator cuff muscles have to be conditioned to keep the ball of the humerus in place and to stop the arm rotation in the follow through. See recommended shoulder conditioning exercises. Easy, light exercises.

There are also the important safety issues related to technique such as the shoulder high orientation for the serve to minimize impingement risk. Just one very bad motion can cause injury.

1) Jim McLennan short video on the rotator cuff, impingement and serving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTRvxaBMh8s

2) Todd Ellenbecker video on shoulder anatomy, impingement, and serving. At about minute 8 he describes the same issue as McLennan but in more detail.
http://www.tennisresources.com/index.cfm?area=video_detail&vidid=3712&ATT=&reso=lo

If you are concerned because you are having pain, how can you determine that the technique that you use is OK? You have to study and know the proper technique and verify that you are doing it with high speed video or find a well qualified instructor. Keep in mind that the more rapid motions during the serve cannot be seen by eye or even 60 fps video so an instructor who uses HSV is a plus.

The Ellenbecker video in my opinion applies to high level serving techniques. You should determine what serving technique you have with video.

Pictures of servers. Notice how the shoulders are tilted as described in the Ellenbecker video.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ten...VMWCCIyiNrKFhPgL&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=903&bih=559

 

[WildVolley]

I believe most shoulder problems are caused by the motion rather than an issue with ball impact.

The overhand throwing-like motion used in serving is inherently dangerous and susceptible to causing over-use injuries. Many of the greatest servers have had to deal with shoulder pain and surgery.

Chas mentioned form, and you should use video to assess what you're actually doing. I'm also a strong believer in doing shoulder exercises (start with the thrower's 10) to stabilize the shoulder and allow hard serving with less chance of injury. Also, I think that players should limit the serve count and make certain to do full warmups before trying to hit hard serves.

 

[frank52]

You do need to change whatever you are doing before you do big damage to your shoulder. You could be ripping your rotator cuff and end up being out of tennis for a year. Don't serve (much) if it hurts your shoulder, change your serve form to decrease any impingement, and get softer strings or softer racket.

The Thrower's 10 exercises are good - do a search for them online. The book "Bulletproof your Shoulder" is informative and has a small set of stretches and exercises that are helpful.

I kept playing for several months even though my shoulder hurt when I served. End result was 4 partial tears in my rotator cuff tendons.

 

[beltsman]

I'm suffering shoulder pain right now on serves/overheads. It was an acute pain about two weeks ago, now I've rested it and avoided doing much overhead and it's better, but still hurts. I suppose I should give it a bit more time.

But, I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's on the front of my shoulder, and hurts the worst on the end of a motion, bringing my arm down across my body. So internal rotator cuff?

Thoughts?

 

[Pieter12345]

What do you mean with a softer racket? Can you give an example?

I'm hearing a lot of negative things about the Graphene "technology". Do you think this might cause the pain as well?

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

What do you mean with a softer racket? Can you give an example?

I'm hearing a lot of negative things about the Graphene "technology". Do you think this might cause the pain as well?

The Graphene Instinct MP is a bit on the stiff side but the TW tester's review gave this racket a pretty decent Comfort rating so I really wouldn't worry too much about its stiffness. Note that stiffness (flex) ratings can be misleading so I would pay more attention to TW's comfort rating, if available. If you still want to check out more arm-friendly rackets, you might check out these:

Prince Tour 100
Volkl Organix V1 Pro
Volkl Classic V1
ProKennex Kinetic Pro 5G Classic
ProKennex Kinetic Ki Q5 (295g)

Also worth considering:

Prince Warrior 100
Prince Tour 98
Volkl Organix V1 MP
Dunlop Biomimetic M3.0

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

If you are using poly strings, it might be best to get rid of them. Poly strings is probably worse for your arm than your Graphene Instinct racket.

As others have said, I suspect that your serve mechanics might be the primary reason for your shoulder problems. Best to look into that.

 

[Chas Tennis]

I'm suffering shoulder pain right now on serves/overheads. It was an acute pain about two weeks ago, now I've rested it and avoided doing much overhead and it's better, but still hurts. I suppose I should give it a bit more time.

But, I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's on the front of my shoulder, and hurts the worst on the end of a motion, bringing my arm down across my body. So internal rotator cuff?

Thoughts?

Stop stressing the injury now and see a well-qualified Dr.

Do some research on the shoulder and impingement, a common problem. But there are many other injuries to the shoulder and you and people on forums cannot diagnose what you have. There are long threads here on shoulder injuries, use for information but not for diagnosis or treatment. The tissues involved in injuries do not usually heal in a few weeks. Study the issue of healing time, especially if you think that your should continue playing tennis.

Rotator cuff muscles mostly hold the ball of the upper arm bone in the shoulder's socket, some joint motions also. The four rotator cuff muscles are connected from the scapula or shoulder blade to the upper arm bone, humerus. They are small muscles.

If your approach when you get an injury is to stress it too soon, it is a matter of time until you have a serious chronic injury. With a new injury you have a great opportunity for good healing. After a very short time that opportunity is gone.

Google: shoulder pain pictures

rotator cuff pictures

Read all related to the shoulder.
http://www.hopkinsortho.org/conditions-diseases.html

 

[Chas Tennis]

Here is a slide that shows instability of the humerus in the socket of the shoulder joint. There are many structures of the shoulder that can be injured.

From - Principles of Kinesiology
http://www.slideshare.net/joldham5/module-2-kinesiology-getting-started

 

[dominikk1985]

A big injury risk is also the rapid shoulder ISR during serving (and throwing). the ISR is one of the fastest movements of the Body and puts in large stress on the shoulder, especially the rotator cuff.

it is important to work a lot of the external rotators so that the muscles decelerate the ISR and not the tendons and bones.

Baseball pitchers work a ton on their external rotators for that reason.

I agree with chas about the rest and doctor. prehab excercises are good but only when the shoulder is healthy again, don't do anything before you are pain free again.

 

[racquetreligion]

light well directed exercises by a registered physio is the only way to live with any rotator or shoulder tissue tears. Even 0.8 to 3mm tear can be extremely painful. Hopefully some future treatments using stem cell therapy will come quicker as surgery is very rarely successful.