Shoulder/rotator cuff problems

[kt411gcn]

Hey everyone, I recently developed some pain in the shoulders and rotator cuff. The shoulder pain can be felt when I lift my arm to the side, it is near the joint that connect the soulder to the body. The rotator cuff pain can be felt when I pull my arm back for the forehand, or swinging forward for the backhand. I started having pain after practicing my serve for the first time. It is nowhere near as bad as not being able to serve because of the pain, but it is there. Anyway, seeing that I have pain in the areas described, what might I be doing wrong, and what can I do to correct it? My arm is relatively stretches out when I contact the ball, and im meeting the ball about a foot or less from my body.

I also got a question about body rotation. What I do is point my left foot at the right post, while my right foot is parallel to the baseline. When I turn my obdy into the serve, my left foot would pivot, while my right foot would lift and end up in the court after I hit the ball, my body rotating along with my right foot. Can you guys offer suggestions to improve on this? Thanks.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Check the many postings on "shoulder" and "rotator cuff" in the Health forum. This is where you should post such issues.

Search first at:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/search.php
keywords: shoulder
or
cuff
Search Titles Only
Forum: Health

Also, check my signature here:

Great fitness sites
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33800

esp the Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist Pain sections

 

[Marius_Hancu]

search in the Sticky (topmost thread here)
my posting on the
Serve Power and Placement (on page 2)
many links on technique there
read them first

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Get to a coach, and to an orthopedic surgeon.
You're probably doing something wrong.
Perhaps you're too weak, out of shape and the racquet is too heavy for you (including too head heavy, or swingweight heavy); or it might be too stiff. Or the strings might be too harsh and too tight. Check the other postings in Health.

Start conditioning your shoulder, as per the links I indicated. Surgical tubing and light weights.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Any Racquet Advise For Arm/shoulder Injury Prone Man
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=92951

 

[cervelo]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dorian1.htm

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Hey everyone, I recently developed some pain in the shoulders and rotator cuff. The shoulder pain can be felt when I lift my arm to the side, it is near the joint that connect the soulder to the body. The rotator cuff pain can be felt when I pull my arm back for the forehand, or swinging forward for the backhand. I started having pain after practicing my serve for the first time. It is nowhere near as bad as not being able to serve because of the pain, but it is there. Anyway, seeing that I have pain in the areas described, what might I be doing wrong, and what can I do to correct it? My arm is relatively stretches out when I contact the ball, and im meeting the ball about a foot or less from my body.

I also got a question about body rotation. What I do is point my left foot at the right post, while my right foot is parallel to the baseline. When I turn my obdy into the serve, my left foot would pivot, while my right foot would lift and end up in the court after I hit the ball, my body rotating along with my right foot. Can you guys offer suggestions to improve on this? Thanks.

I am taking that you have a onehanded backhand? If so, I had a friend with problems in this area. He would be a little timid to swing the racquet on the onehander bracing for slight pain. Many times this loss in concentration caused him to be late and further caused problems. In his case, he also had good rotational strength and we decided to introduce the twohanded backhand which greatly relieved the stress on the hitting shoulder.

Tell me a little more about how good your backhand is and why you would stay with your current backhand. In other words, tell me about the fears and cheers you have regarding the onehander (if you have one) and the possible switch.

I need to know a little more before recommending a change. The reason is, it could be tecnical issue causing the pain which you would feel alleviated once corrected. But then again, it might be a chronic issue brought on by other things which needs further discussion.

 

[kt411gcn]

I am taking that you have a onehanded backhand? If so, I had a friend with problems in this area. He would be a little timid to swing the racquet on the onehander bracing for slight pain. Many times this loss in concentration caused him to be late and further caused problems. In his case, he also had good rotational strength and we decided to introduce the twohanded backhand which greatly relieved the stress on the hitting shoulder.

Tell me a little more about how good your backhand is and why you would stay with your current backhand. In other words, tell me about the fears and cheers you have regarding the onehander (if you have one) and the possible switch.

I need to know a little more before recommending a change. The reason is, it could be tecnical issue causing the pain which you would feel alleviated once corrected. But then again, it might be a chronic issue brought on by other things which needs further discussion.

I actually started on a two handed backhand, and it was pretty solid, about 2.5-3.0 level. I play with my uncle often, and he has a very powerful, accurate one-hander, and he has great range with it. That was my main reason for switching, but another reason I switched was because I didn't like that the two-hander had suck a limited reach.

As for my current backhand, I really like it over my previous two-handed, I have much more range, and it just feels better. Im currently good enough so that I can hit balls back at rally pace, clearing the net most of the time. I'll occasionally hit a rocket, where my whole body and swing feels weightless, like im slicing trough the air. I can hit it to whichever side I want, but that's it. I can't really locate much more than that, and my slice is developing into an offensive backhand. I'd say that I can develop a pretty good backhand with more practice.

As for the swing, I use a western backhand grip. What I do is I wind back. My wrist, is cocked towards my inner forehand, and pronated outward late into the process, im not sure exactly when. I swing my bodyweight slightly forward duing the swing, with my front leg spread out to balance. I think my main problem may be that my swing is no arms or shoulders, just the back, and most of the area around my rear rotator cuff.

Feedback on how to fix it, or whether I should switch to a two-hander would be great, thanks .




Also, thanks for the above links to the rotator cuff/shoulders websites, I'l definetly be putting them to good use.It was only recently, about 2 months ago, that I noticed that my rotator cuff was very weak compared to the rest of my body. Hopefully everything will even out soon.