What string attributes correlates to arm friendliness

cjviva

New User
Some background on why I am asking this. I had some wrist pain and switched to using the famous triax/ypta combo which is extremely comfortable. Only thing is ypta losses tension fast, so I was on a search for a poly with less tension loss while not shredding my wrist. During the search I found some poly that are soft still hurt my wrist, and some stiffer poly actually played fine. This leading me to question whether stiffness (lb/in) is the only attribute I should be looking for when judging arm friendliness. Below are the list of polys that I tried and their stiffness on the TW string database:

Wrist ok:
poly tour air: 155
poly tour rev: 193
ice code: 221
xperience: 224
solstice power: 209
firestorm: 189
quadro twist: 178
lynx touch: 222
polaris: no data?

Can feel something going on in the wrist:
cream: 177
sidewinder: 163
cyclone tour: 167
hex tour: assume slightly softer than lynx tour's 218?
ghost wire 18g: 167

So for my wrist the stiffness is not the deciding factor, and newer released strings seems to be more arm friendly despite the stiffness increase? What are some other attributes that can parameterize a string's arm friendliness.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
How long are you playing with the poly? All polys will eventually hurt your wrist/elbow or make you feel arm/wrist discomfort if you play with them after they are ‘dead’ without breaking or cutting them out. Any sign of tightness in your wrist/elbow/arm even before pain is an indicator to restring. You might also see some erratic control when they go dead.

Generally for me, older stiff polys like ALU Power, RPM Blast in thin gauge need restringing due to discomfort from going dead within 7-8 hours. Softer polys in thin gauge like HyperG Soft, HyperG, Tour Bite, Cyclone Tour etc. will last 12-15 hours before they go dead. This is stringing in low-mid forties on a medium-stiff Pure Strike Tour in 16x19 format. The racquet stiffness/design, string bed density, gauge, tension, technique, arm health from previous injuries etc. all will impact the length of time by which you feel discomfort with a particular poly in addition to the string stiffness, material and shape.

I am diligent about cutting out poly and hybrid string jobs a few hours before I feel any tightness based on knowing how long each string lasts for me from prior experience. The temperature also has an impact on longevity as strings feel more stiff in colder weather.
 

LOBALOT

Legend
How long are you playing with the poly? All polys will eventually hurt your wrist/elbow or make you feel arm/wrist discomfort if you play with them after they are ‘dead’ without breaking or cutting them out. Any sign of tightness in your wrist/elbow/arm even before pain is an indicator to restring. You might also see some erratic control when they go dead.

Generally for me, older stiff polys like ALU Power, RPM Blast in thin gauge need restringing due to discomfort from going dead within 7-8 hours. Softer polys in thin gauge like HyperG Soft, HyperG, Tour Bite, Cyclone Tour etc. will last 12-15 hours before they go dead. This is stringing in low-mid forties on a medium-stiff Pure Strike Tour in 16x19 format. The racquet stiffness/design, string bed density, gauge, tension, technique, arm health from previous injuries etc. all will impact the length of time by which you feel discomfort with a particular poly in addition to the string stiffness, material and shape.

I am diligent about cutting out poly and hybrid string jobs a few hours before I feel any tightness based on knowing how long each string lasts for me from prior experience. The temperature also has an impact on longevity as strings feel more stiff in colder weather.

I was going to say the same thing and some of the strings OP listed drop tension quickly making it even more critical to monitor as you indicate.
 

cjviva

New User
yeah to clarify when I meant feeling something it's within the first 1.5hr session. For all poly I start at 50lb, and using vcp 97 hd/d or ultra tour.
For me objectively I want strings to be solid (not a lot of vibration) and have good pocketing feel, but I'm not sure if there's any measurement that can reflect that.

Definitely agree never play with dead poly.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
yeah to clarify when I meant feeling something it's within the first 1.5hr session. For all poly I start at 50lb, and using vcp 97 hd/d or ultra tour.
For me objectively I want strings to be solid (not a lot of vibration) and have good pocketing feel, but I'm not sure if there's any measurement that can reflect that.

Definitely agree never play with dead poly.
Wow - wrist discomfort within 1.5 hours with CT, GW, cream etc. is not common. Do you have a history of arm issues?

All you can do is maybe go down to 40 or 42 lbs and see how you like it. Many soft polys are not very tension-dependent and play well at low tensions. Otherwise, you might need to try soft strings at higher tensions - I used to play with gut at 56-58 lbs before I switched to poly and hybrids. There is an active thread going on for players who can’t play with poly.
 
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cjviva

New User
Nothing in the shoulder/arm but definitely my wrist is picky. It would tense up first if the racquet/string is not right and become painful if I let it go on for a couple of days.
I definitely think 50lb might be too high for some poly and I'm going to try lower tensions. I'm just so perplexed why my wrist doesn't feel a thing with ice code but cream/sidewinder won't do.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Nothing in the shoulder/arm but definitely my wrist is picky. It would tense up first if the racquet/string is not right and become painful if I let it go on for a couple of days.
I definitely think 50lb might be too high for some poly and I'm going to try lower tensions. I'm just so perplexed why my wrist doesn't feel a thing with ice code but cream/sidewinder won't do.
Might want to do wrist exercises also with a lightweight dumbbell or other wrist-strengthening gadget.
 

SlowTiger

Professional
Stiffness numbers don't tell everything.Everybody is different, especially since their strokes are different. I use a lot of wrist but rarely have wrist pain. I do when polys get old or if they were stiff strings to begin with. My forearm near the elbow flares up if strings don't have enough string movement. I tried my friend's racquet with x-1 biphase what was prob at 60+ pounds killed my arm after just a few shots. Felt like playing with a plank
 

Pumpkin

Professional
Interesting questions you raise and I can back you up. It seems counter intuitive that a soft poly would cause pain and a stiffer one doesn't, but I had a similar experience lately.

I don't get pain but I can feel a stress on my arm with a softer poly. I happened to try a stiffer poly and it felt quite comfortable. I was surprised.

I can't she'd any light on the matter. It's got me stumped as well. I can't even come up with a theory.
 

Trip

Legend
@cjviva - Not doubting you, but I presume you've tested each string in your "makes it hurt" list enough times to rule out the momentary health/sensitivity of your wrist itself as the main driver here? If yes, then it could be that your wrist is only sensitive to certain vibration waveforms, which are more dependent on material makeup than dynamic stiffness, and can vary widely from co-poly to co-poly.

That being said, by all means, continue to play the polys that don't seem to hurt your wrist (for now), but otherwise, I would look to potentially hybrid or go full-bed with as little poly as you can get away with -- that would include "multiesters" (Triax/RPX/HDMX), monofilament nylons (RPM Soft, Diadem Evolution, Gamma Glide), Ashaway Kevlar/Zyex, natural gut and/or slicker pure multis or syn guts (Multifeel, Head PPS, etc).
 
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Happi

Hall of Fame
Some background on why I am asking this. I had some wrist pain and switched to using the famous triax/ypta combo which is extremely comfortable. Only thing is ypta losses tension fast, so I was on a search for a poly with less tension loss while not shredding my wrist. During the search I found some poly that are soft still hurt my wrist, and some stiffer poly actually played fine. This leading me to question whether stiffness (lb/in) is the only attribute I should be looking for when judging arm friendliness. Below are the list of polys that I tried and their stiffness on the TW string database:

Wrist ok:
poly tour air: 155
poly tour rev: 193
ice code: 221
xperience: 224
solstice power: 209
firestorm: 189
quadro twist: 178
lynx touch: 222
polaris: no data?

Can feel something going on in the wrist:
cream: 177
sidewinder: 163
cyclone tour: 167
hex tour: assume slightly softer than lynx tour's 218?
ghost wire 18g: 167

So for my wrist the stiffness is not the deciding factor, and newer released strings seems to be more arm friendly despite the stiffness increase? What are some other attributes that can parameterize a string's arm friendliness.

Topspin Cyber Flash 17L with a stiffness of 144 (TWU) has been a long time favorite
 

PKorda

Professional
I've been playing with ice code for a while and am a bit shocked the stiffness score is that high as it feels quite comfortable. Makes me realize stiffness score may not be all it's cracked up to be.
 

Dansan

Semi-Pro
Relax your arm/wrist and use hips/torso more, let racquet do the work. Stop the death grip or arming the ball that's gonna mess up your wrist and elbow
 

Frankc

Professional
good natural gut, good natural gut...
( The bad news is that only Pacific still produces the quality/labor intensive good gut that has stood the test of time - dynamic and lively and lasts forever...)
 

SlowTiger

Professional
Topspin Cyber Flash 17L with a stiffness of 144 (TWU) has been a long time favorite

I thought cyber flash was an alu knock off. I'm confused as I've seen in the forums where people said it was a crisp and a lil stuff but I also see a lot saying it's a soft poly.
 

tele

Hall of Fame
yeah to clarify when I meant feeling something it's within the first 1.5hr session. For all poly I start at 50lb, and using vcp 97 hd/d or ultra tour.
For me objectively I want strings to be solid (not a lot of vibration) and have good pocketing feel, but I'm not sure if there's any measurement that can reflect that.

Definitely agree never play with dead poly.
I agree that TWU stiffness values are not the only factor in a string's comfort, though I am surprised about your response to cream. Were some of the "wrist ok" strings evaluated before you started having wrist issues, or have you hit with all of them since you started having wrist problems?

In addition, were you using the same gauge for all of them? Although higher gauges are stiffer, they also add more to swingweight, which could theoretically dampen vibrations and feel better on your wrist. Either way, hope you find a setup that works before your problem gets any worse—I injured my TFCC about 5 years ago and had to take a couple months off and wear a brace for another 6.
 

Happi

Hall of Fame
I thought cyber flash was an alu knock off. I'm confused as I've seen in the forums where people said it was a crisp and a lil stuff but I also see a lot saying it's a soft poly.

Correct it is a Alu knock off, so it has this lovely Alu crisp feeling, but for some reason very arm friendly too. One of the very few poly strings I can play without arm pain.
 

nov

Hall of Fame
Some background on why I am asking this. I had some wrist pain and switched to using the famous triax/ypta combo which is extremely comfortable. Only thing is ypta losses tension fast, so I was on a search for a poly with less tension loss while not shredding my wrist. During the search I found some poly that are soft still hurt my wrist, and some stiffer poly actually played fine. This leading me to question whether stiffness (lb/in) is the only attribute I should be looking for when judging arm friendliness. Below are the list of polys that I tried and their stiffness on the TW string database:

Wrist ok:
poly tour air: 155
poly tour rev: 193
ice code: 221
xperience: 224
solstice power: 209
firestorm: 189
quadro twist: 178
lynx touch: 222
polaris: no data?

Can feel something going on in the wrist:
cream: 177
sidewinder: 163
cyclone tour: 167
hex tour: assume slightly softer than lynx tour's 218?
ghost wire 18g: 167

So for my wrist the stiffness is not the deciding factor, and newer released strings seems to be more arm friendly despite the stiffness increase? What are some other attributes that can parameterize a string's arm friendliness.
Seems very weird to me, especially that you feel pain in 1.5 hours. For example ghost wire at 18g is one of the most comfortable poly out here.
I myself cant play poly, because eventually my arm gonna start hurt. If i would cut poly in 3-5hours, i may play with soft poly, but then its too much hassle to change the strings that often.
 

Brando

Professional
...it could be that your wrist is only sensitive to certain vibration waveforms, which are more dependent on material makeup than dynamic stiffness, and can vary widely from co-poly to co-poly...
Is this a personal theory, @Trip, or is there data on this? If the latter, I'd love to read the source because it's an interesting idea I've not heard of.
 

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
Arm friendliness? The first quality is not being a poly. I would recommend trying a stiffer multi like TF X-1 Bi-Phase or Babolat Multifeel first.
 
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