Wrist Pain Diagnostic.

[SeasonedNovice]

I just started taking up tennis again from a year-&-a-half hiatus. Been playing for about 2 - 3 months now. However something Is happening that I have never experienced before while playing tennis.

After each session we play (usually 2 - 2 1/2 hours), the last few weeks I have been getting a pain on the TOP of my wrist...right were the top of my hand and wrist join.

It never fails, it keeps happening and I can't think of anything that’s bringing this on. Especially because I have never experienced this sensation before. The pain usually goes away by the next day, but after I get done with the session, I can Really feel it.


However, is pain on the top of your wrist an indicator of a specific bad technique? If so what can I do to prevent this?

 

[LeeD]

I get the same pain at the top of the hitting wrist, closer to the pinkie or ring finger.
Bending the wrist fully before hitting any tennis balls seem to help, as does my annual summer layoff from tennis.
Somebody like CharlieFed named the technical term for the injury.

 

[charliefedererer]

My guess is that you are using "too much wrist" in your strokes, resulting in tendonitis of your wrist.

The wrist should be kept "relatively" locked during your groundstrokes. There should not be flexion or extension occurring at the wrist.

The rotation of your arm from takeback, to pointing the butt of your racquet at the ball to ballstrike to follow through comes at the shoulder, with your wrist relatively locked!

xstf illustrates this very well on his tennisoxygen website in his analysis of Federer's one handed backhand where he emphasizes "maintaining the little L" throughout the stroke:
"The little "L". The relationship between the wrist and the racquet through out the entire swing." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq3Pi1KIkT8&feature=view_all&list=PLC4B1814186A2E18C&index=15

But this rule is not for the one hand backhand, it's applicable to the two handed backhand and forehand as well.

In fact, Pat Dougherty, the Bolletieri Camp "Serve Doctor", invented a device to keep the wrist in this position, and illustrates its use mainly in the forehand (but also volleys and 1H slice backhands) in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J74XpkGKyuc

He expands on why the wrist in this position helps promote control and accuracy in your shots in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZqhHdmqSPQ&feature=related


Now you don't need his device to keep that wrist still during your stroke. But you will require some forearm strength to maintain the "relatively" locked wrist through your entire strokes.

But if you get rid of the flexion/extension at the wrist on your strokes, and instead power the ball with leg pushoff, core rotation, and internal rotation of the arm at the shoulder [popularly called pronation, although strictly speaking pronation refers to foream rotation, not shoulder rotation] then I bet your wrist pain will go away and stay away.


(If you want to develop some more forearm strength, the "Tyler Twist" with the Thereband Flexbar and doing dumbell wrist curls, reverse curls and pronation/supination exercises can be done.)

 

[charliefedererer]

My guess is that you are using "too much wrist" in your strokes, resulting in tendonitis of your wrist.

The wrist should be kept "relatively" locked during your groundstrokes. There should not be flexion or extension occurring at the wrist.

The rotation of your arm from takeback, to pointing the butt of your racquet at the ball to ballstrike to follow through comes at the shoulder, with your wrist relatively locked!

xstf illustrates this very well on his tennisoxygen website in his analysis of Federer's one handed backhand where he emphasizes "maintaining the little L" throughout the stroke:
"The little "L". The relationship between the wrist and the racquet through out the entire swing." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq3Pi1KIkT8&feature=view_all&list=PLC4B1814186A2E18C&index=15

But this rule is not for the one hand backhand, it's applicable to the two handed backhand and forehand as well.

In fact, Pat Dougherty, the Bolletieri Camp "Serve Doctor", invented a device to keep the wrist in this position, and illustrates its use mainly in the forehand (but also volleys and 1H slice backhands) in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J74XpkGKyuc

He expands on why the wrist in this position helps promote control and accuracy in your shots in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZqhHdmqSPQ&feature=related


Now you don't need his device to keep that wrist still during your stroke. But you will require some forearm strength to maintain the "relatively" locked wrist through your entire strokes.

But if you get rid of the flexion/extension at the wrist on your strokes, and instead power the ball with leg pushoff, core rotation, and internal rotation of the arm at the shoulder [popularly called pronation, although strictly speaking pronation refers to foream rotation, not shoulder rotation] then I bet your wrist pain will go away and stay away.


(If you want to develop some more forearm strength, the "Tyler Twist" with the Thereband Flexbar and doing dumbell wrist curls, reverse curls and pronation/supination exercises can be done.)